RUMFORD — Police are warning residents that an apparent scam targeting older people has hit the Rumford area.
Rumford Police Department Capt. Dan Garbarini said a local resident contacted him Thursday morning after the man had received a call asking for bail money for his grandson.
“They are targeting older people and telling them that they have a family member in custody,” Garbarini said.
The caller was supposedly from a police department is in Beaver Bay, Ontario, Canada and asked for money to be sent by Western Union to a location in Texas, the officer said.
Garbarini said when the targeted person asks to talk with the family member, a representative is put on the phone or someone alleging to be the family member comes on the phone.
“These people are genuinely concerned for their family,” Garbarini said. In the Rumford case, the caller asked for $6,000 to bail out a grandchild.
Garbarini said he believes the man who contacted Rumford police may not be the only potential victim in the area.
“This is absolutely a scam,” Garbarini said.
Garbarini said police departments do not ask for bail money. The arrested person can call a relative or friend, and usually a court process is needed before bail is set.
He said this is the first time he has learned of this type of scam. The department has had reports from people on other types of scams, such as cashing a check, then sending the scammer money, or having to pay or reveal bank account numbers in order to receive alleged lottery winnings.
The Beaver Bay caller knew the name of the local man’s grandson when he called, he said.
“We’re in an era of information. People do genealogy, family history. (Scammers) can get certain information,” Garbarini said.
Garbarini said police Cpl. Lawrence Winson called one of the numbers provided by the Beaver Bay caller and was told a dirty joke by the alleged police officer in Ontario. That’s something police officers would not do, Garbarini said. And police would not tell a potential victim to keep secret the request for money.
Garbarini said people should not be quick to give out money, and to contact their local police.
Mexico police Chief James Theriault said a report of a similar nature came into his office about two years ago.
Dixfield police Sgt. Jeff Howe said he also received a similar report about six months ago from a Dixfield resident about a caller from a Canadian location.
Oxford County Sheriff’s Office Administrative Assistant Linda Hooker said several such calls came to people in West Paris and Buckfield, among other towns, last month.
She said other red flags to identifying a scam include having a foreign accent and denying that the police department/jail is located in any specific law enforcement territory.
“If someone is in jail, you don’t wire money. You call the regional communications center that has contact with every jail,” she said.
Garbarini said anyone who thinks he or she may have been contacted by a scammer should call the Police Department at 364-4551.
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