10 October Scams
10.03 Spoke to the 18 yo male victim regarding a scam report. He stated he began speaking to a person on Instagram who had the username brandyylisa33@gmail.com. He sent the person nude photos of himself and now the person is demanding money or they will send the photos to his friends. He was advised to report the user to Instagram and block the accounts.
10.07 A mother stated her son signed up for a dating website and sent a picture of his privates to a female. The unknown female told her son she needed $100 or else she would distribute the photos to his friends and family. He complied and bought a $100 gift card then gave the number on the card to the female. I advised him to not send any more money to this alleged female.
10.10 The victim was selling a guitar on FB Marketplace. Buying party requested to use Zelle for payment. During the process he received an email from "Zelle" notifying him that his account was fraudulent and he needed to pay money to correct his account. I advised it was a scam email, and he should contact Zelle. I provided information on how to protect himself during internet purchases.
10.12 The victim told me someone identifying as an IRS agent told her she was associated with illegal activity and her financial accounts needed to be looked at. She was transferred to a DEA agent
who also asked for her account information. She was told she had warrants. The victim, who was suspecting fraud, hung up. I advised her she did not have any warrants and that it was a scam.
10.13 The victim informed deputies that he had recently agreed to purchase $4,500.00 worth of airplane equipment on Facebook with a James Baldwin profile. He never was able to get a phone number from James and only spoke with him over Facebook Messenger. He was unsure if he could trust James so James sent a pilot's license to help ease his mind. The victim agreed to send
$1,500.00 over PayPal and once the items were received, he would send the remaining $3,000.00. The email that he sent the money to over PayPal was Rojascreative30@gmail.com. He never sent the final $3,000.00 because he was still skeptical of getting the right items. He noticed that once he received the tracking number, the weight of the package showed just above six pounds, and he knew the weight of the items he was supposed to be getting should have weighed over twenty pounds.
The package showed it was coming from CA; however, James’s profile showed he lived in Washington. Once the package arrived, it contained a gift basket from Wine.com. He spoke with Wine employees and they informed him they could not give him information about who sent the package.
10.14 The victim stated that somehow her information was hacked, and someone placed an ad on Craigslist offering free Milwaukee power tools. All of her information, including a phone number and address were placed in the ad. She has since received numerous texts asking about the tools and have two different parties actually arrive at her residence for the tools. She was advised to change passwords and block numbers if needed. The ad was eventually located on Craigslist and was "flagged" as spam to hopefully have the ad removed.
10.16 At 11:00 am the victim received a call from 763-576-2800. The male on the phone stated that he was Deputy Daniel Douglas from Anoka County and that she missed a federal court date. She knew that she had not missed a court date and suspected this to be a scam so she asked for a badge number and was told 67973B and when she asked for a call back number the person became defensive and disconnected the call.
10.16 The victim advised me that he signed up for Bud Light decals on a website. He stated that he received a check worth $2,950 from Michael Mittner that was made out to himself. He advised me that he then deposited that check into his bank but they declined it, stating it was a canceled check. He advised me that he did not lose any money during the incident. I advised him to contact his bank and make sure they keep an eye on his accounts, being his personal information may have been compromised.
10.16 The caller advised she just received a call from 763 576 2800 (Anoka PD) and the male voice on the other line advised her he was a Deputy with Anoka County and asked her to go to a confidential place. She said she was taken back because she hasn't even had a speeding ticket in over ten years and there would be no reason for law enforcement to call her. She said she told the caller she was in a confidential place and they hung up on her. She said she searched the phone number and found it was associated with Anoka PD. She assumed the caller was trying to scam people and wanted to report it.
10.19 The victim stated on 10/15/23 at approximately 2000 hours she got a phone call from a number with no caller ID. She stated the male said he worked for Wells Fargo and advised her of "fraud" that took place within her bank account. She stated the male could see what she was doing on her phone screen and that is the reason the male obtained all her banking information. She stated the male took $1,756 from her checking account. She spoke with her bank and changed all her information.
10.23 The victim explained that on 10/18/23, he attempted to buy bitcoin through CashApp. He stated that he typed in bitcoin in the search bar and sent the money to a user named - $btctrd. He sent $450 through the app and never received anything in return. He stated that he contacted CashApp regarding the transaction and they told him they cannot reverse the money. The victim said there is no way to track the transaction that he initiated to $btctrd.
10.23 The victim stated she received a call today from someone pretending to be an Anoka County deputy. The caller stated their name was Lt. Heath, and called from 763-324-5030. The caller told her she missed court. They also told her to bring $14,000 to the courthouse, or she will have warrants issued for her arrest. I advised her this is a scam. I also advised her that we would not call her and tell her to bring money to the courthouse if she missed court.
10.24 I spoke with the juvenile reporting party; he stated he had sent nude pictures of himself to a girl he was talking to on Snap Chat. He stated he has been talking to this person since Friday. About 10 minutes ago, the person told him he needed to send $500.00 and if he did not send the money, they would post his nude pictures on Instagram. I advised him that this is a very common scam and to report both accounts and block them. I told him to not send any money or message the accounts any further and to call back if the accounts actually post his pictures.
10.24 Business lost $170,000. They received an email (they thought) from a company that was requesting they pay their final bill for some work that was recently done. The work was completed so the business paid the bill. However, the person who was emailing them for payment was not from the company they owed money to – he just created a very similar email. The business paid the money and is trying to work with the bank to get it back, but it doesn’t look good.
10.26 The victim advised he received a message from Facebook messenger requesting he verify his account by sending a picture of his driver's license. He advised that he sent the picture and later learned that it was a scam. He said that he took the precautions recommended by FTC.gov and put alerts on his credit reports. Documentation only at this time.
10.26 The victim was contacted by someone claiming to work for a sheriff's office. He did not answer the phone and this person left him a voicemail. The voicemail stated that it was imperative that he call back, the caller identified himself as Reginald Reed. I called the number and got a voicemail from someone calling themselves, Deputy Sheriff Reginald Reed. Not long later the victim called in again reporting that he spoke with Reginald on the phone. Reginald told him that he missed a jury duty that he was summoned for and that he was possible in some trouble. Andrew then asked Reginald for his rank and badge number, he then quickly hung up the phone.
10.30 The reporting party stated he received from call from 763-333-1595 from a person who claimed to be from the Anoka County Sheriff's Office. They said he had a warrant for his arrest because he missed jury duty and that he had to pay them $4,500 for bail. They wanted him to meet them at a gas station and said when he paid, they would hand him a receipt. He could then take that receipt to the Anoka County Sheriff's Office, and it would clear his warrant. I informed the victim that this was someone trying to scam him and that the Sheriff's Office would never ask for money.
10.31 Fraud from a stolen purse. The victim explained that someone broke into her vehicle on 10/23/23 and stole her purse. She filed a police report with Blaine PD. She said she wanted to make a new report regarding a related incident where the suspect went to her bank and withdrew $2300 from the drive through. She called the bank and they told her that the suspect drove into the farthest outside lane, away from the window and requested to pull out money from the account. The suspect sent the victim’s drivers license through the tube and the bank gave the suspect the $2300 in cash.
10.31 The reporting party explained she received a call at 1054 from 651-848-1100 stating that they were a deputy from Anoka County and she had missed a court date. She did not catch a name of the deputy and they hung up before she could get any further information. She then called the court
house and confirmed she did not have any court date. I told her that we do not contact individuals if they miss a court date and that it was a scam.