Con artists use old and new ploys, threats of arrest to steal money

Imagine opening an email that says the following: “Congratulations, you just won $1 million dollars! All you have to do is send some personal information and a check for $250 to India to receive your money!” Spending $250 to receive $1 million seems like a great deal, but think again.

A few weeks ago, the city of Covington Detective Theresa Schrimpsher received an email from a concerned citizen telling her she received this email. The person did the right thing by reporting the email, Schrimpsher said.

“If it’s too good to be true, it more than likely is,” Schrimpsher said.

While that wasn’t the first time a scam has happened in Covington, the actual number of scams is unknown because most of them go unreported.

“Scammers target the vulnerable, like the elderly, and they are either embarrassed to report it or scared,” Schrimpsher said.

A few weeks ago, family members called to report that their elderly family member was on their way to wire some money over to a stranger. They said their family member was told if they didn’t wire the money, the police was going to arrest them. If scammers set fear into their victims, they will more than likely not report it, Schrimpsher said.

Scams don’t always happen between people in the same town, either. Two years ago, a man from Pennsylvania contacted his local police department telling them he was scammed by someone in Covington. The Covington police department was then contacted to let them know about the scam. The Pennsylvania man had sent about $2,700 to a post office box in Covington and when he realized it was a scam, he contacted the police. Upon looking through the post office box in question, they found more than 200 people had been scammed into sending money there as well.

While many scams are done through phone calls or emails, some are done in person, where it’s easy to target the vulnerable. One of them is The Pigeon Drop Scam, which is an old scam that is making its rounds again, Schrimpsher said.

The scam involves a person coming up to a victim in a parking lot or somewhere else in public. The person shows them a large sum of money that he claims he either found or inherited and he needs victim’s help taking the money somewhere. After gaining the trust of the victim, he asks them for a ride to wherever they need to take the money. Once they arrive at the destination, they talk to another “stranger” who is actually in on the scam. The first person asks both of them for money and promises a large sum of the cash they have, as a thanks for helping them out. The “stranger” hands over money, no problem. So the victim, seeing someone else trusts the person, also hands over some money. The two people get out of the car and tell the victim to drive around the block to prove they are trustworthy. Once the victim drives back around, their money and the scammers are gone.

The Pigeon Drop Scam happened at the beginning of February to a Covington man. He didn’t fall for the scam, but unfortunately, a woman back in the summer, did. She lost about $56,000, Schrimpsher said.

There are three scams currently making their rounds in Covington and surrounding areas like Renton, Schrimpsher said. Everyone should be on the look out for a scam using the IRS, BECU and a computer virus.

In the IRS scam, someone gets a phone call from the “IRS” telling them they owe money and if he doesn’t send the money right away, he will be arrested. Many people have unfortunately fallen for this scam, Schrimpsher said. With the virus scam, a person will get a pop-up ad on her computer, stating she has a virus and if she provides credit card information, she can erase the virus. With the BECU scam, someone calls to inform there is an overdraft fee on their BECU account that needs to be paid right away, or be arrested. Again, the scammers use the law enforcement to scare someone. People tend to focus on the repercussions, like being arrested, than the fact that they don’t have an account with BECU.

It’s important people know about scams and their vulnerability to prevent them from happening, Schrimpsher said.

Tips to avoid

getting scammed:

If something seems too good to be true, it more than likely is.

The IRS or the FBI will never call, they usually send letters.

You should never have to pay money for something you’ve won.

Never give out information over the phone unless it’s from someone you absolutely trust.

Whoever is calling you, they should already have your information, such as your bank.

When in doubt, call the person back. If they say they are your bank or someone you are associated with, it’s better to call back and confirm that they indeed called you. Most of the time, they will have no idea what you’re talking about.

Never click on a link in an unknown email, it could potentially be a virus that could get all of your information from your computer.

Scam emails usually have bad grammar. They will have missing words, sentences that don’t make sense or misspelled words.

As simple as this may be, don’t trust strangers.

Always report what seems like a scam so the police can keep an eye out. If you do happen to give out your information, keep a close eye on all of your accounts to monitor any suspicious activity.

If you are victim, report it and close accounts that were affected, right away.

When in doubt, look it up on the Internet. It more than likely has happened to someone else who reported it and you will find information about it on the internet.

A red flag is when the person calling says someone from law enforcement will come arrest you if you don’t pay whatever you owe. Nobody will come arrest you for overdue money or overdraft. yes they will —

Anything on Craigstlist should be revised carefully; whether selling, buying or looking into a job. Again, if it’s too good to be true, it probably is.