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  Geebo 8:00 am on October 12, 2023 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: FBI ( 22 ), mail fraud ( 21 ), police impersonation scam, Scams ( 1,367 )   

  FBI warns of scam letters sent in their name 

  

  By Greg Collier

  The El Paso, Texas office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), has issued an alert about scammers posing as their office. Letters are being sent to El Paso residents that are official looking and appear to be on FBI stationery.

  The letter claims it’s regarding an identity theft case that involves Bank of America. The letter goes on to state the recipient’s bank account with Bank of America has now been secured, but was suspected by US Customs and Border Patrol of being part of an identity theft scheme. The scam letter even contains warnings that it is sensitive material and should not be shared.

  The El Paso FBI Office states the scammers are trying to get victims to pay the scammers in cryptocurrency or other funds, but doesn’t explain how. If you take a look at a copy of the letter the FBI has released, it has the official contact information of the El Paso office on it, albeit signed by a fictitious special agent.

  Typically, when scammers send out letters impersonating an agency or business, false contact information will be included, so the recipient would call the scammer, and not the entity they’re impersonating. It could be that the FBI intentionally left that information off the letter, so people don’t call the scammers. Or, these letters could be followed up by a scammer’s phone campaign where they call the letter’s recipients, furthering their scam.

  Either way, it’s easy to spot that this letter is a fake, as the second time they print Bank of America, the bank’s name is not capitalized. Not to mention, many recipients probably don’t even bank with B of A.

  We’d be remiss if we didn’t say this reminds us of a popular phone scam. In that scam, the scammers will call a victim posing as either, the FBI, US Marshals, or Border Patrol. The scammers will tell their victims that a car rented in the victim’s name has been found along the southern border that contained drugs. The victim is typically threatened with arrest, but they can make the warrant go away if they just pay the fake officer or agent directly.

  Please keep in mind, no law enforcement agency will ever call you up or ask you for money, nor will they send letters. If you owe any kind of legal fine or court cost, that correspondence usually comes from the court and not the police.

   

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  Geebo 8:00 am on September 6, 2023 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: jury duty scam ( 30 ), police impersonation scam, Scams ( 1,367 ), Zelle ( 66 )   

  Real police don’t give discounts 

  

  By Greg Collier

  Older generations used to have a fear drilled into them about missing jury duty. For the longest time, there was a type of reverence toward jury duty. No one wanted to do it, but no one wanted to go to jail either. Whether that fear was warranted remains to be seen, but that fear still seems to have a grip on people, and scammers are using it to their advantage.

  Yes, we’re discussing the jury duty scam again. As we’ve said before, it’s probably the most common scam going today. Just in researching for today’s post, we found around a dozen news stories where local police departments and sheriff’s offices were warning residents about the scam. It’s a form of a police impersonation scam. Scammers will pose as local police or the local courthouse while calling their victims to tell them they missed jury duty. Sometimes the scammers will say the victim has a warrant out for their arrest, or if the victim is a professional, they missed a court date where they were supposed to give expert witness testimony.

  The endgame is always the same, though, the victim can supposedly avoid jail time by paying a fine over the phone. Like most scams, this is done by gift cards, payment apps, or cryptocurrency, three forms of payment that neither courts nor police ever accept or ask for. Another thing the police or courts will never do is offer offenders a discount.

  That’s what happened to a Pennsylvania man recently when he got a call telling him he had missed federal jury duty. The call appeared to come from his local sheriff’s office, but any phone number can be spoofed.

  The scammers told the man if he didn’t pay $4900, patrol cars would show up at his home to take him to jail for 60 days. The man tried to withdraw the money from his bank, but the transaction was declined as the bank thought the man was being scammed. At this point, the scammers lowered the phony fine to $1000, which, unfortunately, the victim sent through the Zelle payment app.

  If you’ve ever had a traffic ticket or any kind of court cost, you may have been able to set up a payment arrangement if you don’t have all of the money at the time. But getting the fine talked down to a fifth of its original cost is virtually unheard of.

  If someone were to knowingly miss jury duty, they could be held in contempt of court, however, most jurisdictions do not send those people to jail. There will be a fine, but it’s unlikely it will be anywhere in the neighborhood of $5000. That notice will also be sent in the mail. When someone has an arrest warrant, police do not give them a courtesy call, they just show up unannounced. If you ever get one of these calls, ask the caller for their call back number, but call your local police department instead.

  If you keep these things in mind, you’ll be prepared if police impersonators ever call.

   
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  Geebo 8:00 am on August 21, 2023 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: impersonation scam ( 146 ), money laundering ( 11 ), police impersonation scam, Scams ( 1,367 )   

  Scam victim arrested for scamming 

  

  By Greg Collier

  It’s a rare occurrence for a scam victim to be arrested for allegedly being part of a scam, but it does happen. Typically, it happens in the reshipping scam. In those cases, scam victims can be charged with a crime if they willingly falsify shipping documentation as directed by the scammers to bypass US customs. This isn’t a story about that, but it’s just as heartbreaking.

  A 71-year-old man from Des Moines, Iowa, fell victim to a police impersonation scam. It hasn’t been reported which police impersonation scam he fell for, but the scammers did pose as federal agents. It wasn’t enough to take the man’s money, as the scammers used him to pick up money from their victims. The man is said to have collected money from the scammers’ victims, and deposited the money to the scammers at a Bitcoin ATM.

  The regrettable part of this story is that even after being scammed himself, the man thought he was legitimately helping federal investigators. Des Moines police even warned the man what he was doing was illegal, but the man persisted anyway. The police say they had no choice but to arrest him. The man has been charged with money laundering.

  Protecting yourself from police impersonation scams involves being vigilant, informed, and cautious when dealing with any situation involving law enforcement or authority figures. Remember, legitimate law enforcement officers will not threaten you over the phone, demand immediate payments, or use aggressive tactics. Taking the time to verify the authenticity of any communication can go a long way in protecting yourself from scams.

  As one investigator said, “Unless you’ve got a police officer or a legit government official standing in front of you, I wouldn’t trust anybody on that phone.”

   
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  Geebo 8:00 am on August 8, 2023 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: arrest warrant ( 26 ), impersonation scam ( 146 ), jury duty scam ( 30 ), police impersonation scam, police scam ( 37 ), Scams ( 1,367 )   

  How common is the jury duty scam? 

  

  By Greg Collier

  We often say the most common scam we see in the news is the jury duty scam. Hardly a day goes by where we don’t see a police department or sheriff’s office warning their local residents about police imposters who are trying to trick victims out of their money.

  The jury duty scam is a type of fraud where scammers attempt to deceive individuals by posing as law enforcement officials or court representatives. They typically target people through phone calls claiming that the recipient has missed jury duty and is now facing legal consequences. The scammers then ask their victims to pay a fictitious fine that supposedly clears the arrest warrant.

  But the scammers don’t want you to go to the courthouse to pay the fine. They want their payment then and there, usually through payment apps like Zelle and Venmo, gift cards, prepaid debit cards, or cryptocurrency.

  Just in the past 24 hours, we’ve seen jury duty scam warnings from the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office, In Florida, the Annapolis Police Department, in Maryland, the Louisiana State Police, the Morris County Sheriff’s Office, in Kansas, the Missoula County Sheriff’s Office, in Montana, and the Mansfield Division of Police, in Ohio. Tomorrow, it could be another six police departments or more. If the scam hasn’t made it to your city or town, it’s probably on its way.

  If you receive a communication about jury duty, contact your local courthouse or law enforcement agency directly using official contact information to confirm its authenticity. Remember that legitimate government entities will not use aggressive tactics, threats, or demand immediate payments over the phone or email. If you suspect you’ve been targeted by a scam, report it to your local law enforcement agency and relevant authorities.

   
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  Geebo 8:00 am on July 28, 2023 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: AI ( 17 ), arrest warrant ( 26 ), check washing ( 16 ), identity theft ( 107 ), impersonation scam ( 146 ), jury duty scam ( 30 ), police impersonation scam, Scams ( 1,367 ), voice cloning ( 24 ), voice spoofing ( 21 )   

  Scam Round Up: Weird AI scam and more 

  

  By Greg Collier

  Our first scam comes to us from Athens, Texas, where residents have been experiencing a twist in the arrest warrant scam, also known as a police impersonation scam. Typically, when scammers pose as police, they’ll call their intended victims and tell them they have a warrant out for their arrest, The scammers usually claim this for missed jury duty, but they can also claim a number of other infractions.

  For example, residents of Athens have complained the scammers are accusing their victims of using their phone to transmit a photo that traumatized a child. Essentially, the scammers accused their victims of sending explicit material to a child. The victim is then asked to pay several hundred dollars over the phone to resolve the complaint.

  That’s not how arrest warrants work. If there is a warrant for your arrest, especially one that’s supposedly this serious, the police are not going to call you over the phone. Also, no law enforcement agency will ask for money over the phone, and then ask for it in unusual ways, like gift cards or cryptocurrency, just to name a few.

  If you receive a call like this, hang up and call your local police at their emergency number. Not only can you verify there is no warrant for your arrest, you can let the police know scammers are working in your area.

  ***

  Police in Connecticut are warning residents there has been an uptick in check washing. Check washing typically involves stealing checks that are in outgoing mail. Thieves often steal the mail from residential mailboxes, along with the outdoor drop-off boxes used by the US Postal Service. They then dip the written checks in a chemical solution that removes the ink from the check, so the thieves can write the checks to themselves.

  The police in Connecticut are also warning residents the thieves can steal checks out of your trash. If you use your bank’s mobile app to deposit checks, and then throw the checks out, make sure they’re properly shredded before throwing them out, as check washing can still be performed on voided checks.

  If you have to write a check, which is going in the mail, use a gel-based ink pen. The ink in gel pens is said to be more resistant to check washing. Also, don’t put the envelope that holds the check in your mailbox and the put the mailbox flag up. This is a signal to thieves there may be a check in there.

  ***

  Lastly, we’ve read about another AI voice-spoofing scam. There has been a rash of these scams nationwide over the past year or so. In this scam, the victim gets a phone call where the voice sounds like exactly like one of the victim’s loved ones. The scammers manipulate the loved one’s voice in such a way where it sounds like the actual loved one is in some kind of trouble and needs money to resolve the issue. Typically, the scammers ask for bail money, or in some cases a ransom. However, the loved one is usually unaware their voice is being used in a scam.

  However, the recent news article we read out of Alabama, suggests scammers are using the voice-spoofing technique in identity theft. An Alabama woman received a call she thought was from her brother, but was actually from scammers. Instead of asking for money, they asked the woman for personal information. They then used this information to hijack her Facebook account and use that for additional scams. Police there have said the scammers used the videos the brother posted on social media to mimic his voice with AI.

  We can’t say for sure, but this sounds like the scammers may have been asking for the woman’s security questions in case she lost her Facebook password. Considering the answers to these questions are something like “What was your first pet’s name?” or “What city were you born?” these may seem like innocuous questions coming from a close family member.

  In cases like this, it’s best to ask the family member calling a question only they would know to verify their identity.

   
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  Geebo 8:00 am on July 20, 2023 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: charity scam ( 35 ), police impersonation scam, rental scam ( 87 ), Scams ( 1,367 ), venmo ( 28 ), virtual kidnapping ( 45 ), voice cloning ( 24 ), voice spoofing ( 21 )   

  Scam Round Up: Fake cops threaten tenants and more 

  

  By Greg Collier

  Our first scam of the day comes to us from a warning from the New York City Police Department. The NYPD says they’ve seen an increase in a charity scam that involves Venmo and your phone. Scammers are approaching NYC residents while pretending they’re working for a charity.

  The scammers will ask for a donation through the personal payment app Venmo. The victim will be provided the information to make the donation, but the donation won’t go through. This is when the scammer will ask for the victim’s phone to help them make the donation. Instead, the scammers are sending the entire amount of the victim’s Venmo account to themselves.

  The NYPD is telling residents not to hand their phones over to strangers, especially if they’re asking for donations. Please keep in mind, Venmo was intended to be used between family and friends.

  ***

  We’ve been keeping a close eye on the scams that involve AI-generated voice-spoofing. Scammers will take someone’s voice either from social media or their voicemail message and run it through an AI voice program that will allow them to make someone’s voice say just about anything they want. Typically, voice-spoofing is used in the grandparent and virtual kidnapping scams. In these scams, scammers need the victim to believe they’re talking to a loved one.

  The most recent report we have on this is out of Atlanta, where a mother was confronted with this scam. She received a call she thought was from her adult daughter. She heard her daughter’s voice before someone on the call said her daughter saw something she shouldn’t have and has now been kidnapped. The caller demanded $50,000 in ransom.

  Thankfully, her husband was able to get a hold of her daughter, who was in no real danger.

  If you receive a phone call like this, always try to reach the person who has been supposedly kidnapped through other means. Even if you have a full conversation with someone who sounds just like your loved one, always verify the story. Ask them a question only they would know, or set up a family code word ahead of time that would signify who you were talking to.

  ***

  Residents of Newark, New Jersey, have reported that people posing as police have been going around to tenants and demanding multiple months worth of rent. If the phony officers don’t get the money, they threaten the tenants with eviction and arrest.

  In New Jersey, an eviction can’t be carried out until the landlord has received a judgment in court.

  If you’re renting your home or apartment, you should familiarize yourself with your state’s or county’s eviction process.

  Also, keep in mind, legitimate police will never show up at your door asking for your rent money. If someone claiming to be police does show up at your door, call the police department they’re supposedly from and verify if an officer has been dispatched to your home.

   
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  Geebo 8:00 am on July 13, 2023 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: grandparent scam ( 69 ), police impersonation scam, Scams ( 1,367 ), voice cloning ( 24 ), voice spoofing ( 21 )   

  County official targeted in AI scam 

  

  By Greg Collier

  We’ve come across yet another story where an AI-generated voice has been used in a scam. This time it took place in the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania area. There, a county official received a phone call she thought was coming from her daughter. The voice on the other end sounded exactly like her daughter, and was sobbing and crying. Then a man got on the call and claimed to be a police officer. That man said that the daughter caused a car accident after looking at her phone while driving. It wasn’t long before the man asked for $15,000 bail. Thankfully, while this was going on, the woman got a text message from her actual daughter, which spoiled the scam.

  Regular readers will recognize this as the grandparent scam. It was initially called that because scammers would target the elderly and pose as one of the victim’s grandchildren. Now, ‘grandparent scam’ is a misnomer because more recently, scammers have been targeting parents as well. This is thanks to the advancement of AI technology lately. Scammers now have the capability of spoofing the voice of just about anyone they want and making it say whatever they want. This makes a scam that was concerning at first, absolutely terrifying now. Before voice-spoofing, a scammer would have to try to imitate a loved one while claiming they had some kind of injury which made their voice sound different, such as a broken nose. Now, scammers don’t even have to bother. All they need now is a few seconds of someone’s voice they can take from a video on social media.

  But as always, If you receive a distressing call from a supposed loved one who claims they’re in some kind of trouble, it is critical to verify their situation by contacting them directly. Scammers will try to keep you on the phone by threatening arrest if you hang up or claiming there is some kind of gag order. Nothing is keeping you from hanging up on the phone call to verify the story with your family or friends. Even if you’re convinced you’re hearing your loved one’s voice, always verify the story before making any kind of payment is even considered.

   
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  Geebo 8:00 am on June 20, 2023 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: AI voice ( 10 ), grandparent scam ( 69 ), police impersonation scam, Scams ( 1,367 ), voice cloning ( 24 ), voice spoofing ( 21 )   

  Mother convinced daughter arrested in AI scam 

  

  By Greg Collier

  If anyone could recognize their daughter’s voice with just a few short words, it would be their mother. At least, that’s what scammers are hoping as AI-generated voice spoofing scams continue to plague families.

  Within the past few months, we have seen an increased uptick of phone scams that use AI-generated voices. As we’ve previously discussed, there are two scams where an AI-generated voice of the victim’s loved one makes the scams seem more believable.

  One of those scams is the virtual kidnapping scam. That’s when scammers will call their victim to tell them that they’ve kidnapped one of the victim’s loved ones, while demanding a ransom. In actuality, the supposed kidnap victim is unaware they’re being used in a scam.

  The other scam is the grandparent scam. It’s called the grandparent scam because in it, the majority of scammers target elderly victims and claim to be one of their grandchildren. Calling it the grandparent scam can be a misnomer, as scammers will also target parents and spouses.

  One mother from Upstate New York was shopping for her daughter’s wedding when she received a call from scammers. She immediately heard her daughter’s voice saying she got into a car accident. But it wasn’t her daughter’s voice. Scammers had spoofed it using AI.

  Scammers only need a few seconds of someone’s voice before they can make an authentic sounding AI model, along with the speaker’s cadence. They get their voice samples either from someone’s social media or making phone calls to their target. Since the daughter was preparing for her wedding, there may have been a wide variety of voice samples to choose from.

  But getting back to the scam, after the mother heard her daughter’s voice, a scammer got on the line posing as local police. They said the daughter caused a wreck while texting and driving, and needed $15,000 for bail.

  Thankfully, even though the woman was convinced that was her daughter’s voice, she did not fall victim to the scam. Instead, she called her daughter, who was in no danger at all.

  If you receive a phone call like this, try to contact the person who was supposedly arrested. Even if you held a conversation on that call and the person sounded exactly like your loved one. Scammers will try to keep you on the phone, but no one ever had their bail raised while someone verified their story.

   
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  Geebo 8:00 am on June 19, 2023 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: arrest warrant ( 26 ), doctor ( 4 ), expert witness scam ( 2 ), police impersonation scam, Scams ( 1,367 )   

  Even doctors can be scammed 

  

  By Greg Collier

  Doctors are some of the most educated specialists in our country. Not only do they have to deal with college, med school, and residency, but as the science and technology advances, they have to keep educating themselves. So, some may find it surprising that doctors are just as vulnerable as the average consumer is to scams. We’re not even talking about medically specific scams like insurance fraud or doctor shopping for narcotics. We’re talking about one of the most common scams out there today, the jury duty scam.

  For those who may not know, the jury duty scam is where scammers impersonate officials or law enforcement representatives to target individuals and extract money or personal information from them. Typically, the scammers will call their victims and threaten them with arrest for not showing up to jury duty unless the victim makes a payment then and there. The scammers will often ask for payment in untraceable ways, like cryptocurrency, gift cards, or prepaid debit cards, to name a few.

  However, when doctors are targeted, the scammers don’t tell them they’ve missed jury duty. Instead, the scammers tell the doctors they failed to appear as an expert witness. Doctors may testify as expert witnesses in legal proceedings to provide their professional opinion and expertise on medical matters.

  Recently in the Cleveland, Ohio area, several doctors were approached by scammers and threatened with arrest if they did not make a payment of $4000. The scammers even had personal information on each doctor. One doctor even paid $2000 to the scammers before the doctor’s bank realized the doctor was being scammed.

  This is yet another example of how anyone can be scammed. Some people have lulled themselves into a false sense of security and have convinced themselves they can’t be scammed. Please take it from us that there is a scam out there for everybody. It’s just a matter if the right scammer can find you or not.

  We realize not all of our readers are doctors. However, this scam does show that actual police departments will not contact you by phone if you miss a court date or jury duty. Any communication in these matters will be done through the mail, and if a payment does need to be made, that’s usually done at the courthouse.

  If you receive a call like this, hang up and contact your local police at their non-emergency number.

   
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  Geebo 8:00 am on June 15, 2023 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: bail scam ( 15 ), police impersonation scam, Scams ( 1,367 )   

  Police impersonators don’t miss a beat 

  

  By Greg Collier

  Typically, when we discuss police impersonation scams, we mostly talk about the jury duty scam. That’s when scammers pose as your local police and threaten victims with arrest for supposedly missing jury duty. In that case, the scammers are hoping to get a quick payment out of the victim disguised as a fine. However, police impersonation scams come in many forms, and they all use fear and intimidation to try to take your money from you.

  For example, a Pittsburgh woman recently got a phone call from scammers posing as the Pittsburgh Police Department. The caller told the woman that her daughter had been in a car accident that injured a pregnant woman. Police impersonators often use the concept of an injured pregnant woman to make a minor accident appear more severe.

  The caller told the woman that her daughter was in custody at the courthouse. On the call, there was even a woman crying in the background, asking for ‘mom’. The woman was even instructed by the caller not to call her daughter because her phone had been confiscated. This is done in order to try to prevent the woman from calling her daughter because if she did, she would find out that her daughter was not under arrest.

  The woman decided to make her way to the courthouse, but on the way there, she received another phone call from another scammer posing as a lawyer. This scammer told the woman that $15,000 bail was required. The woman asked the caller how can there be bail when she hasn’t even been before a judge yet. The caller was quick to respond that the daughter had already been before a judge three hours ago.

  Thankfully, the woman had spoken to her daughter within the past three hours and realized she was being scammed. She called her daughter, who had not been arrested and was in no danger.

  Scammers have an answer for almost any question you throw at them. A lot of the answers don’t make sense if you stop to think about it, though. The fact that the scammers told the woman not to call her daughter should have been a red flag, but telling her that her daughter had already been before a judge was obviously too convenient for it not to be a scam.

  As always, if you receive a call like this stating a loved one is in custody, but you haven’t spoken to that loved one, end the call and contact the loved one. More often than not, you’ll find that they have no idea they’re being used in a scam. Also, keep in mind that the police will only call you if the arrested person is medically incapacitated; otherwise the suspect would be able to call you themselves.