Scam artists in full swing during Christmas

Christmas is a time of giving, but for some people it’s a time for taking–taking you for everything you’ve got.

Fraudulent schemes are becoming more widespread.  Recently, local residents have reported two specific cases of fraudulent schemes to the Douglas Police Department. 

“In both cases, the intended victims were lucky enough to detect the fraud before any money was lost or given away to the unknown organizations,” said Marcus Gonzalez, the spokesman for the Douglas Police Department.

One of the frauds was a Shopper’s Market Research in which a check was received in the mail, along with a letter of explanation on cashing the check.  The letter was a fake offer for employment of becoming a “mystery shopper,” entailing a survey of select stores to evaluate their services.

  The recipient of the letter was to cash the $3970.00 check, spend $100.00 in the store, complete a survey, and send $3400.00 to a specified training agent through Money Gram or Western Union.  The recipient was to keep a small portion of the money for their services as a “mystery shopper.”

In this case, the intended victim made the attempt to verify the authenticity of the check prior to cashing it.  The victim was notified that the check was fraudulent and the account number was non-existent.  The recipient then contacted Douglas police to report the scheme, Gonzalez said.

The second fraud was a telephone call.  The caller does his “homework” and finds out the name of the intended victim’s relatives.  The caller poses as that relative in a dire situation in need of money from the victim. 

The victim is told a fraudulent story about why this “relative” (the caller) needs the money, in this case a traffic accident.  The victim often offers to help this relative in need and rarely verifies the incident with other relatives. 

In this case, the intended victim contacted the relative’s mother and was told that the relative was fine.  The caller/imposter leaves little evidence as the phone number from which they call is usually blocked.

Luckily, in both of these cases, no money was lost or given away, but the victims could have easily fallen prey to these fraudulent schemes. 

The Douglas Police Department would like to remind the public that they should be curious and cautious of any mail, phone calls, and emails they receive, especially at this time of the year, Gonzalez said.

 “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!” Gonzalez said.

By exercising a little caution and verifying the information that is presented, you can save yourself from falling victim to these organizations, he said.