Crestview man too smart for scammer
An elderly Crestview area man refused to fall prey to an attempted scam and instead called the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office. Despite the temptation of a supposed $3.5 million cash prize and a bonus of a new Mercedes-Benz, the target kept his cool, sheriff’s spokesperson Michele Nicholson said in a press release.
The resident had initially received a notification by mail that he had won a “grand prize” and would be contacted by phone. When the representative called, he said he was at the Crestview Kentucky Friend Chicken restaurant and had the money and the car with him, the release stated.
The caller, who had “a very distinct Nigerian accent,” according to the release, identified himself as “David Miller,” and told the resident to purchase two Green Dot MoneyPak cards totalling $800 in order to receive the supposed winnings. He was then to call Miller back at (304) 843-8269, a phone number registered in West Virginia.
According to the 800notes.com website, which tracks phone numbers used in suspicious calls, the same number was used at least two other times recently, including a person in Michigan who was asked to pay $500 to receive a $250,000 cash prize and a new Ford, and another person who said the caller claimed to be from UPS and had $6 million to give him.
The responding deputy advised the Crestview man not to purchase the cards, explaining, “Once the numbers have been provided, the scammers obtain access to the money on the card,” the release stated. Instead, with the deputy monitoring, the resident called the scammer back and said he had purchased the MoneyPak cards as requested.
“The scammer then requested to have the numbers on the money pack cards, at which time he was told to come to the man’s home in order to complete the transaction,” the release stated. “At that point, the scammer became somewhat irate and began yelling at the man to provide the card number.”
Claiming a bad connection, the scammer called back, and trying to prove he was really in Crestview, said he was now at the BP gas station across from the KFC, information easily available by looking at a Google.com “street view” map.
“An OCSO supervisor drove to the BP station,” the release reported. “He then verified that no one was at the store and the scammer promptly terminated the phone call.”
The sheriff’s office advises people who suspect someone is trying to scam them to contact the sheriff’s office Fraud Hotline, 651-7674. The Crestview Seniors vs. Crime office of the Florida Attorney General’s office also tracks scam attempts. Call 306-3176.
The MoneyPak website, www.moneypak.com, advises, “Don’t give your MoneyPak number to pay for something you buy through the classifieds or to collect a prize or sweepstakes. If you give your MoneyPak number to a criminal, Green Dot is not responsible to pay you back.”
To check phone numbers that seem suspicious, visit 800notes.com, an online user-built database on which people can register fraud attempts and other suspicious calls.
