Global Scammers Invade Ocean County

by Tom Mongelli

Ocean County authorities are combating a multi-platform assault by international scammers on residents throughout the county, especially seniors. Criminals are using overland mail, phones and the Internet simultaneously in their attempt to invade homes, con residents out of thousands, and ruin their credit by lifting credit-card information.

Sergeant Cindy Boyd at the County Prosecutor's office says that the current wave is a combination of the two main approaches - those that give potential victims a false sense of hope, and those that give them a false sense of danger.

Most scams being reported to her office begin as mail notification of winnings in a foreign lottery. "They're receiving letters, some with checks, some with just contact phone numbers or e-mail, requesting that they contact them," says Boyd. But the checks are counterfeit, and the con artists seek small "processing fees," usually 20 or 30 dollars, according to Boyd.

Resistance is met with escalating degrees of anger, says the sergeant. Scammers use the web to look up phone numbers of potential victims, then launch a barrage of threatening calls. Some victims cave in to the pressure, sending thousands of hard-earned dollars.

In some instances, callers pose as federal agents, demanding payment for a variety of reasons - occasionally to resolve the lottery scam, sometimes to resolve a contrived situation implicating friends or relatives.

"The FBI, or any federal agency, or law enforcement, will not contact you and verbally assault you over the phone and request money," says Boyd. "It just will not happen." Investigators are working with U.S. postal inspectors to track the path of the ruse. She says Jamaica has been a center of activity, but it's also cropping up elsewhere in spots around the world.

Sergeant Boyd urges anyone getting mail about lotteries they don't recall entering, or phone calls demanding cash to bring it to the attention of local police. Reach the Prosecutor's Office at 732-929-2027.