Tuesday, September 26, 2017
Staff report
BOARDMAN
Township police received numerous reports of fraud and identity theft over the last several days, according to police reports.
In one report, a 76-year-old woman reported that she lost more than $10,000 in what’s commonly known as the grandparent scam. The scam targets elderly people with phone calls in which the caller identifies themself as a grandchild who is in trouble and needs money.
In this case, reported Friday, the woman told police that the caller claimed to be her grandson and said he had gotten into a car accident. The caller persuaded the woman to send several thousands dollars worth of Best Buy gift cards, according to the report.
In a report from Saturday, an 84-year-old man reported losing $5,000 to a similar scam, in which a caller claimed to be a grandson who was in jail. The man said he sent 10 $500 Target gift cards, according to the report.
Also, numerous First National Bank customers reported unauthorized transactions to township police, with several noting that the fraudulent transactions were made in Maryland.
In another case, a woman reported a fraudulent $110 charge was made on one of her credit cards after a scammer called her pretending to be a tech support worker from Chase Bank.
Another person reported Friday that they were the victim of identity fraud after someone stole their Social Security disability funds.
According to a report filed Saturday, a business reported a case of identity fraud in which someone used a company rewards account for Home Depot.
In another report from Saturday, a man reported that someone had stolen checks from his 73-year-old mother with Alzheimer’s Disease and cashed eight of them for a total of $7,070.