Another Scam in the Area

A local resident passed along information on yet another scam that could've had serious consequences.

Here's what we received from the listener:

A local man received a phone call that he was about to receive $800,000. He received a few more calls and then a package arrived at his home with $8,000.00 cash. A phone call told him to forward the entire amount to an address in Washington, DC and that this was a test. Inside the package, the gentleman found a name and a phone number of a woman who had sent the cash. He was suspicious about what was going, so he called the woman and asked why she had sent the money. She said she was told her grandson was in trouble and she needed to send the cash for him. The man went to his bank with the cash and explained what had happened. They told him to go to the police, which he did. The sheriff’s office took the package and have contacted the woman who sent the package.

The local man was being used as a money mule. The idea was that once the woman realized she had been scammed she would report it to the police and would report the name and address of this man as the con artist. While the police were locating and questioning him, the real thieves would get the money and cover their tracks. These money mules can wind up in jail as accomplices.