TELEPHONE SCAM ALERT: Posted by Chief of Police Michael Williams
There is a scam that is going around in Massachusetts at this time. Similar to the normal scam regarding sending money by means of gift cards, green cards, or cards that money can be loaded on to. They are having victims convert their cash to Bitcoin by using Bitcoin conversion machines.
The telephone scammers are male/male, male/female. They are calling members of the public and alleging that they are working with or are agents of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) as well as the U.S. Marshals Service in Massachusetts. The imposters will provide a story, claim they have a copy of their drivers license. They will attempt to gain confidence of the victim through conversation to attempt to elicit sensitive bank account information. They appear to research their target victims to know real estate owned, addresses, relatives, etc. This information was retrieved from online public sources/databases.
The scammers are spoofing phone number so the number that appears on the victims caller identification appear to be the government agencies phone number. The have claimed that they are U.S. Marshal Brian Kyes of the District of Massachusetts with the caller identification showing the US Marshals Office in Boston’s main line number 617-748-2500 and make demands for confidential bank information.
Recently they have identified themselves as the Chief of a local Massachusetts police department, using the Chief of Police actual name, and spoofed the phone identification to show their local police department phone number.
They have told their victims to convert cash in their bank accounts to Bitcoin to protect their funds which the scammers claim were about to be frozen by the federal government.
When in doubt of the legitimacy of the caller, get off the phone, dial the phone number to the agency or department in question to verify the call. Do not do reverse calling. They are also able to spoof the numbers to appear as relatives or friends phone numbers.
The U.S. Marshals Office and local police departments will never request credit/debit card/gift card numbers, wire transfers, or bank routing numbers for any purpose whatsoever. Bail is cash only and would need to be brought to the local police department.
If an apparent scammer provides what sounds like a court order, immediately authenticate the call by calling the clerk of courts office of the courts that is claimed to have issued the order.
Report all scam calls to your local FBI office and to the Federal Trade Commission at www.reportfraud.ftc.gov. You can be anonymous when you report. If you are a victim of a fraud, report the incident through the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at www.ic3.gov.
Do not provide any personal or bank information to unknown callers, and always verify who you are talking too, is who they claim they are.
Internet Scammers also can make your online banking screen on your computer fraudulently appear have money in your account that they accidentally put there or while refunding money, refunded to much. They will want you to obtain gift cards or debit cards to give them their money back. Verify with your bank by phone that the money is actually in your account. Usually this is able to be done on your computer due to an email attachment that provides them access or they will have you do something either by a certain site with a link or using a software which you would provide them a code that appears on your screne which will allow them access to your computer.
Respectfully Submitted,
Chief Michael Williams