Greg's Corner

Why are scammers asking if you’ve seen a missing person?

By Greg Collier

In a follow-up to yesterday’s post about police impersonation, we found three more police impersonation scams in less than 24 hours. These scams have become so prevalent that the scammers have started changing their game in order to find new victims.

Our first scam comes to us from Georgetown, Kentucky, where scammers are posing as investigators with the local police department. While spoofing the number of the police department, the scammers are asking victims if they’ve been in contact with a missing person. The victim is then told that their phone number is the last one the missing person contacted. The next step of the scam is kind of unclear, but the police are saying the scammers are asking the victims for $1500 that is supposed to help the family of the missing person. Typically, in these scams, the scammers demand money under the threat of arrest. It’s unknown if that tactic is being used here. In any event, Georgetown Police are asking residents to contact them if they receive a call like this.

Scammers in Southwestern Virginia are taking advantage of families who are already down on their luck and have a family member who is incarcerated. These families are receiving calls from someone posing as a sergeant from the regional jail where the victim’s family member is being held. The scammer is offering to have the incarcerated family member moved to a home confinement program for $500 to $600. In this instance, the scammer is said to be accepting money through a payment app, although the specific app has not been made known. Please keep in mind that law enforcement and government agencies do not ask for payments through apps like Venmo, Cash App, Zelle, etc.

Lastly, police in Vermont are warning retail business owners about a scam that’s been targeting them lately. In this scam, the scammers pose as police, again using a spoofed phone number. The scammers then tell one of the business’ employees that the owner has filed a police report claiming that the money in the cash register has been switched with counterfeit bills. The employee is then instructed to collect the money and bring it to the back door of the business. There’s no word on if anyone has fallen victim to this scam. For the victims’ sake, we hope not, as an in-person scam like this could put a victim in extreme danger.