PORTLAND, Maine — The Cumberland County sheriff alerted residents Tuesday of an increase in phone scams throughout the region, observed over the last week.
A common scam becoming more frequent is a caller impersonating themselves as a police officer, claiming that the victim failed to appear for grand jury or other court proceedings," Sheriff Kevin Joyce said.
The victim is then told that if he or she does not send a money order or one or more gift cards to a certain address they'll be arrested.
"Police Officers will NEVER call requesting an individual pay off court commitments with money orders or gift cards," Sheriff Joyce said.
A second scam becoming more common is predicated on Medicare, in which the scammer does research on their intended "targets" – gathering a great deal of information – and tells them they have overpaid on their Medicare.
The scammer tells the victim they want to reimburse them and requests a bank account number so the scammer can deposit a check.
There is a follow-up call later, usually by a female, who is crying and claims that she made a mistake and put too much money back into the victim’s bank account. The scammer pleas for assistance as they have kids and they will likely be fired if they don’t get the alleged overpayment resolved.
The scammer then requests that the victim send a check for the alleged difference, which is generally a large amount, to a fictitious address. Once the money or check is mailed by the victim, the money is gone and typically not retrievable. Any alleged checks mailed by the scammer to the victim directly, a bank, or allegedly direct deposited into the bank is a worthless check.
"Slow down, and verify any unsolicited requests for money, credit card numbers, social security numbers or gift cards," Joyce said.