Scam Alert-Impersonating Law Enforcement
The Lacey Township Police Department is investigating a fraud scam involving the suspect(s) impersonating law enforcement officials. The Lacey Township Police Department took a report from a victim who recently received an email, from what appeared to be a valid lender, informing the victim their loan application had been approved. The victim had recently been seeking a loan and believed the email to be related. The victim then called the purported loan officer, utilizing a telephone number provided in the email, and provided personal banking information. The victim described the male suspect’s voice as having a middle-eastern accent. The victim and suspect had contact numerous times via telephone regarding the loan. The scam included money being deposited into the victim’s account and the victim having to make additional “good faith” payments. This included western union payments and withdrawals from the victim’s bank account.
After realizing a scam was occurring, the victim stopped contact with the suspect and blocked their number. The suspect then made contact with the victim, this time purporting to be a law enforcement official, and attempting to further the scam by threatening the victim with police action if they did not continue to allow themselves to be defrauded. The suspect also “Spoofed” their telephone number, so it appeared the suspect was calling from an official law enforcement agency. “Spoofing” is the act of disguising a communication from an unknown source as being from a known, trusted source. Spoofing can apply to emails, phone calls, and websites, or can be more technical.
As always the public is urged to avoid scams and not provide any unknown and/or untrusted sources with personal information. Furthermore, the Lacey Township Police Department advises all residents that if they are contacted by anyone representing themselves as a law enforcement official and they are unsure of the validity of their claim, they should end the call and contact the agency themselves utilizing the agency’s official contact information. Additionally, residents may always visit Police Headquarters and/or can request a uniformed officer in a marked police vehicle respond to meet with them to ensure the proper identification is made.