14 March 2024
GREAT BEND, Kan. (KSNW) — Employees at a Great Bend UPS store helped save a Rush County woman from losing over $60,000 to a scammer.
Great Bend Police say the employees became suspicious of a package that had something loose inside earlier this month. When they opened it, they discovered $44,900 in cash and contacted police.
Police began investigating and learned the package was to be delivered to a business in California. Using a photo of the woman from the store’s surveillance system, detectives began checking with local banks to see if the woman had made any recent large withdrawals.
They were able to identify the woman in her 70s. Police say she had been prepared to send the scammer an additional $20,000, but her son intervened and stopped her before she sent it.
Police say it began with a scammer calling while using a spoofer to make it appear they were calling from a Washington, D.C. number. The scammer claimed to be from the Department of Commerce, accusing the woman of being involved in a financial scheme.
She was told she had to pay $44,900 to avoid trouble. She later received a second call saying she needed to pay an additional $20,000.
Police say the bank notified her son when she attempted to make the second withdrawal. The scammers had instructed the woman to say she was purchasing a car when making the original withdrawal if the bank asked any questions.
In scams like these, scammers often use urgency and the threat of legal consequences to convince people to comply. They can sometimes be elaborate with spoofed phone numbers that appear official and more than one person participating in the scam against the victim.
No government agency will contact you by telephone and demand you pay them in cash, gift cards, cryptocurrency, or through wire transfers like Western Union. If you receive a call claiming you need to pay money or you will be arrested or similarly threatened, hang up and call your local law enforcement agency.
For information and tips from the FBI on how to avoid scams and how to report them, click here.
Tune into KSN News at 10 for continuing coverage with Derek Lytle!