02 February Scams

02.01 The victim sold a chair on craigslist for $950. A person agreed to purchase the chair and mailed the caller a check for $2,950. This person instructed the caller to put the check in her account and then go to a money machine in Forest Lake where he would give her instructions on what to do. The call has not gone to this money machine yet. I advised the caller that this is a scam and that check will not clear the bank.  

02.01 I spoke with the victim who was scammed out of $12,000 through a Bitcoin transaction. He stated that on 01/30/2024 he received a pop-up message on his computer from Microsoft reporting that his computer was frozen and to call 877.592.0759. He called the number and spoke to a male named Eddie Wilson of the fraud department at Microsoft. Eddie told him there would be an investigation as to how his computer was hacked and connects the victim with Mr. Alex from the Wells Fargo fraud department. Mr. Alex advised the victim that his business and personal accounts have been compromised so he needed to withdraw all the money in each account and protect it in a "Federal Reserve Bitcoin". The victim then withdraws his money and deposits the money at a Bitcoin Depot located in Blaine. The victim was given a QR code to scan from Mr. Alex which then transfers the money to an electronic wallet with Bitcoin. Total loss was $12,000. 

02.01 The victim received two phone calls from two different males stating they were deputies with Anoka County Sheriff's Office and they were calling to notify him that he failed to show up for jury duty and now has a warrant out for his arrest. The victim agreed to settle the warrant and paid a fine over the phone which was $175 per citation, and he had two. He explained he now lives in California but used to live in Anoka County so he thought it was possible he could have missed being subpoenaed to jury duty. I informed him if something ever sounds suspicious, he can always call the law enforcement agency himself and request to speak with a licensed peace officer for confirmation. 

02.01 The victim advised that on Monday, he received a text from a company called Adjuvant Partners LLC telling him that they liked his resume and wanted to set up an interview for a position.  An interview was setup later that day and was conducted over Microsoft Teams and was a text only interview with no phone call or video. On Tuesday, the victim received a check for $2100 via email from careers@adjuvantpartner.info (no s after partner unlike other email) and advised the victim that the money was for equipment purchases and instructed him to buy apple and visa gift cards with the money. He sent pictures of receipts and gift cards back to the email address. Later on the same day, the company then sent him a check via email for $1500 and advised that the money was to be used for computer software. He then purchased apple gift cards and again sent pictures of the receipts and cards back to the email. On 02-01-24 at 0700hrs, he reached out to the company via the email address he received, and they explained that they had to start the background process with them. He provided basic information and provided his DL to them, but stopped when they started to ask for SSN number information. He then located the number for Adjuvant Partners LLC online (which is a real company) and found out through them that scammers were using their company to scam people as they were not involved. He then notified his bank, who informed him that the checks that were deposited were not going to clear, and the loss was $3600.

02.03 The victim reported that she and her boyfriend made plans to purchase a vehicle from the suspect for $1200. They used PayPal to transfer $600 to the suspect for the vehicle on 01/26 and the additional $600 to was paid on 02.02. The suspect stated they could pick up the vehicle from an address in Andover. They went to the location and did not see the vehicle anywhere and no one was home. The victim stated that the suspect refused to refund their money and had ended all communication. 

02.15 The victim stated that he was working with H&L Motors to buy a car. He stated that he paid the company $24k and the vehicle was supposed to be delivered Tuesday. He was notified that the delivery would be delayed a day or two, and that it was rescheduled for today at 1800. He stated that the vehicle never showed and the delivery driver and sales rep were not returning his phone calls. He also stated that the company website is now not working, and he is unable to access it. He stated that the company had a website, working phone numbers, and that they even contacted his bank to facilitate the sale. He emailed me his correspondence with the dealership. The correspondence included an invoice, wire instructions with account numbers and addresses, and communication regarding the delivery. 

02.20 The victim advised that in October, he had mailed a check to Anoka County for $1185.46 for property taxes. On 2/7/2024, he received a letter from Anoka County stating that he had delinquent property taxes. He stated that the check had been cashed, so he contacted the bank and learned that the check had been altered and was made out to his son. He also advised that the memo on the check had been changed to "trees" when the memo initially said "taxes". The victim had already reported the fraud to his bank but wished to pursue charges.  

02.20 This may not be a scam, but it is worth sharing. There are a lot of QR Codes on adverts asking you to scan them, be careful. Entering bank information to redeem a coupon seems a bridge too far.  *The reporting party was at Walmart and observed a coupon that was a buy one, get one for a latte. She stated she scanned the code and was prompted to enter her phone number. When she did, they sent her a text requesting her Venmo or PayPal and she was suspicious of this. She reported this to the manager. When I got the QR code coupon from the caller, I looked at it and it is powered by a company named "Aisle" and says after the purchase of 2 of their products, send a picture of the receipt and they will send the cost of one can back via Venmo or PayPal. Documentation only at this time due to after looking at the sight, it appears legitimate.

02.22 No loss, but we have seen a resurgence of the grandparent scam. *The victim reported receiving a phone call from a male this morning claiming to be law enforcement. He said that her granddaughter was in custody and needed $18,000 for bail. The victim was suspicious of the call and made contact with her granddaughter who was fine. The male stated he would call back around noon. I gave her advice on what to say to the male and advised her to call back if he continues to harass her. 

02.23 A mother said her son received a random check in the mail for $4,600 from an unknown person. The check was from an Affinity Plus Credit Union in New Jersey. Her son took the check to the bank and cashed it. The next day, the bank called her and said the check was fraudulent. She took the money back to the bank and the bank said they will take care of the check from their side and deposit the money back into the proper accounts. They are not out any money and have no loss. 

02.26 The victim received a phone call from what appeared to be his wife's phone. The phone number and contact photo belonged to her. The victim answered the phone and heard his wife's voice on the other end. He said his wife sounded frantic and said she had been kidnapped. He then spoke to an unknown male who said he had kidnapped her and demanded financial payment for her release. The victim sent $500 to a Zelle account. Shortly after the male said his account was overdrawn, and the victim needed to send an additional $210 to the account to get the account to a $0 balance. Shortly after sending the funds, the victim received a three-way text from his wife and daughter. He made contact with her and realized she was not in danger. He also reported the incident to his bank fraud department. 

02.26 The victim reported she attempted to buy a couch on FB Marketplace yesterday. The seller was a "Fabian Gibson" who claimed to live on Franchise Ave W in Rosemount. The suspect agreed to deliver the couch for $100 prepaid through the FB app, but he originally wanted payment via Cash App. Once $100 was paid, the suspect blocked the victim on FB and did not show up.  

02.26 We had a resident loose $145K in a Bitcoin Scam. The victim advised he was contacted by the suspect who posed as an agent for his bank and needed him to withdraw his money from the bank and deposit it into bitcoin wallets to secure it. The victim withdrew cash and deposited it in five different Bitcoin machines and provided his “bank” with the transfer account numbers.