State police announce the arrest of a New Jersey man following scam investigation
HOMER CITY, Pa. (KDKA) - Pennsylvania State Police announced the arrest of a New Jersey man following a scam investigation last week.
According to state police, 24-year-old Srinivas Rasala was charged on February 13 with a felony count of criminal attempted theft by unlawful taking or disposition.
On February 12, state police were contacted by a 55-year-old woman in Homer City after she saw a higher-than-normal charge on one of her utility bills. When she noticed the charge, she attempted to find a number to call and it led to her accessing a fraudulent website.
After speaking with what she believed was the "refund department" she was told she had been overcharged and would get a refund.
The alleged refund department then told her to go to two separate websites as well as access her bank account. From there, $29,999.99 was put into her account, but that was said to be a mistake.
She was then advised to keep the $299.99, which was the intended refund amount, but she had to take out the $29,700 overpayment and a courier would be sent to her home to collect the cash.
On February 12, she told police that around 11 p.m. an unknown vehicle arrived at her home but then left after several minutes.
State police were able to locate that vehicle on Main Street in Homer City and identified the driver as Rasala.
An investigation found that the woman's bank account was linked to a family member's account and that's where the $29,999.99 was taken from.
Rasala was charged and has a preliminary hearing set for February 28.