WESTFIELD – Good advice in the nick of time awoke a city man’s common sense in time to recover $7,800 he had sent to a scammer Wednesday.
City police report that a Carol Circle resident came to the station Thursday morning to report that he had been scammed by a telephone caller.
Det. Todd Edwards of the financial crimes unit of the Detective Bureau reports that the man told the responding officer, Brendan Irujo, that a caller from Florida had told him that he had won a lottery and that he stood to receive the $3.7 million prize, as well as $250,000 in cash and a new car.
He said that he had initially disregarded the call which seemed to be the epitome of being too good to be true but his caller kept calling, insisting that the resident had won the prize.
Edwards said that the victim’s mistake was continuing to talk with his caller.
“The worst thing you can do is talk to these people because they’ll find your button and they’ll push it” Edwards said.
The victim said that he was eventually persuaded of his good fortune by the man’s repeated calls and blandishments so he finally followed his caller’s directions to claim his winnings.
All he had to do, the victim told Edwards, was provide his bank account number, his PIN code and make a $7,900 deposit into the caller’s bank account.
The man said that after he provided the required information about his bank account he went to the bank where he had been instructed to make the $7,900 deposit but found it was closed.
He said that when he called his contact and reported he had been unable to make the deposit they required he was given an alternate method to make the necessary payment.
The victim said that he was told to keep $100 of the amount for his trouble and expense and put the remaining $7,800, in cash, in a United Parcel Service package and send it to their representative at a Georgia address.
When the man called his contact again on Wednesday to report he had dispatched the envelope, his call was not answered and instead he got a message advising that the number had been disconnected.
The victim may have had qualms about his ‘good fortune’ then and decided to tell a confidant about the apparent windfall.
Edwards reports that, when the man told his former wife, her response was an immediate and incredulous “You did what?”
“He kinda knew it (that it was a scam) but I think he needed someone else to tell him,” Edwards said.
First thing Thursday morning the victim called UPS to see where the envelope was.
“Luckily enough,” Edwards said “it was in Georgia ready to be delivered but he was lucky enough to get it sent back to him.”
Edwards said that the cash-filled envelope has not yet returned but, according to the tracking number on the package, it was en route Friday afternoon.
He said that he has consulted with the Cobb County, Georgia, sheriff’s department and advised them of the man identified as the go-between for the cash transfer.
Edwards said that the person “is probably a money mule” who thinks he or she has a legitimate job transshipping money and property for a legitimate employer.
He also said that he advised the relevant bank about the account involved in the scam so “they have a heads-up on that and they’re going to look into it.”
