ARLINGTON — Amid a recent increase in various types of reported scams, Chief Julie Flaherty and the Arlington Police Department would like to share with residents tips on how to prevent themselves from falling victim.
The department has seen an increase in scams over the past several weeks. In one instance, a victim purchased multiple gift cards totaling several thousand dollars after receiving an email about a refund to a nonexistent PayPal account. After giving the scammer the gift card serial numbers, the victim was told the gift cards were invalid and needed to be purchased again.
In a separate instance, a victim received a pop-up message on their computer stating that it had been hacked. The victim called the displayed phone number and spoke with a person claiming to be an FBI agent who told them that they may be the victim of identify theft. The victim was advised by the scammer to buy multiple gift cards and call back with the serial numbers. The victim was then advised to withdraw several thousand dollars from their bank account in order for it to be encrypted via Bitcoin, and to use the last four digits of their social security number as a pin number.
The investigations into these incidents are ongoing. However, the money sent to the scammer in both instances most likely cannot be recovered.
The department has also received a report of the “grandparent scam” in which scammers call an individual and inform them that a…
