New Castle Police Warn Residents Of Phone And Email Scam
NEW CASTLE, Del. (CBS)--New Castle County Police is warning residents of a phone and email scam that has been reported during the past week.
These scams frequently occur and police encourage citizens to educate themselves of the signs associated with these types of incidents. These scams unusually become more prevalent during the holiday season.
Recently an elderly couple became a victim and lost $2500.
On Friday afternoon, an officer handled a complaint involving an elderly couple who received a phone call from a subject posing to be their grandson. The individual mentioned that he had wrecked his car and was arrested for D.U.I. The caller, alleged grandson, stated that he needed a $2,500 money gram sent to a business in Laurel, Maryland.
Moments later, another subject got on the phone posing as a public defender named "David Wiseman" and confirmed the information. The victim was instructed to make the money gram out to a person named "Kyle Parker". The elderly couple sent a money gram for $2,500 only to receive another call requesting another $2,200 to pay for the grandson's traffic tickets.
The couple became suspicious and began asking the alleged grandson several personal questions, and the caller hung up. The phone number (438-763-9162) is now "temporarily unavailable."
On Friday evening, police handled another incident, but this time regarding an email scam.
The reporting person advised that she is a bag consultant and advertises for same. She indicated that earlier this month she received an email from a "Shelly Cameron" who was writing from Las Vegas inquiring about placing a large order for a wedding. The reporting person advised that after corresponding for a few weeks, the subject sent the female a money order for over $2,000 and told her to deposit the money into her account and then distribute the proceeds to several different people and places.
The reporting person found this to be suspicious and contacted her financial advisor who told her that this was a scam and not to deposit the check. Her advisor also mentioned that she had recently been contacted by several other clients about the same scam. Police learned no money exchanges took place during the correspondence.
New Castle County Police reminds citizens that scams are a seemingly easy way for dishonest people to get money from unsuspecting consumers. The scammers are interested in learning personal information, such as Social Security numbers and birthdays. They also try to get financial information, such as bank accounts or credit card numbers.
