Sheriff’s Office investigates scam activity
In the News
Deputy Zach Long, a detective with the Nodaway County Sheriff’s Office, issued a release Thursday reporting a series of Internet, mail, and telephone scams perpetrated against local citizens since the first of the year.
The fraudulent activities have taken a number of forms, Long said, including a dating site incident that reportedly cost the victim $17,000.
According to the release, the victim responded to a text message posted through the site requesting money to retrieve items from a “port in Germany.”
“The suspect used a common name associated with local families, and said he owned a legitimate company in Wathena, Kansas,” Long stated.
In a second complaint, this one involving apparent mail fraud, the intended victim received a check for about $2,000 along with instructions that it be cashed and the money sent to various locations.
In exchange, the scammer’s intended mark was to be paid a fee.
Long said the person declined to follow the instructions, and the check turned out to be bogus.
A third citizen wasn’t as fortunate with regard to an Internet scam that began with a pop-up warning on the victim’s home computer stating that the machine was infected by a virus.
According to Long, the victim, as the pop-up requested, forwarded $200 to the “liveteck” company, supposedly based in Seattle, Washington, which claimed it would remove the virus.
After receiving the victim’s money, the apparent scammer called and said “liveteck” was going out of business and would issue a refund.
However, the scammer said the transaction was not possible using a credit card and requested the victim’s bank information, which was supplied.
A short while later, according to Long, the suspect called again to say that “liveteck” had overpaid the victim by $4,000.
When the victim went to his bank, the detective stated, he discovered that $4,000 had been electronically transferred from his savings account to his checking account to make it look like a deposit had been made by a third party.
Long said the scammer had asked to be “reimbursed” in the form of $4,000 worth of iTunes cards. However, the victim stopped cooperating before losing any more money.
A fourth recent episode involved a phone scam in which the victim was told she had won $75,000 but needed to pay a $200 processing fee, which was forwarded to the suspect.
Later, the suspect called again and said the victim needed to pay an additional $500 in taxes before receiving the “prize.”
As the victim was reporting the matter to sheriff’s personnel, the scammer called a third time and said he was at a location on South Main Street in a white SUV.
A Maryville Public Safety officer was dispatched to the area but found no trace of either the suspect or the vehicle.
Long said a fifth scam reported in recent weeks involved a citizen who purchased a dog from its supposed owner in North Carolina but failed to receive the animal.
