PHOTO: Courtesy of WLUK
MANITOWOC, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Be skeptical of strangers who reach out over the internet or phone, Manitowoc police are warning.
The department says it has seen a “dramatic increase” in scams in the past few months.
In one common scheme, the scammer will contact the victim pretending to be someone interested in a long-distance romantic relationship. The scammer will begin to groom the victim by asking them to send small amounts of money. The amounts requested will grow gradually larger, and the scammers will ask for banking information or even personal identifying information. If this doesn’t work, the scammer will ask for explicit photos of the victim, which will then be used as blackmail.
A second type of scam involves a caller posing as a member of local law enforcement, claiming the victim has missed a court appearance, forgotten to pay a fine or has outstanding debts to the government. Scammers are often aggressive or threatening and almost always request payment using gift cards or cryptocurrency. Those methods make it difficult for investigators to track them down, and some victims have lost significant amounts of money.
Police also addressed the increasing number of cryptocurrency ATMs. While the machines do have legitimate uses, government agencies will never ask someone to use one to pay a fine or fee. Many of the transactions are subject to large fees. Police recommend that anyone who is asked to send a large sum of money using a crypto ATM be skeptical and confirm the recipient of the funds.
Comments