A Chesterton
resident was defrauded of more than $2,000 after callers pretending to be
FBI agents persuaded her to send them money to avoid being arrested on drug
trafficking charges, Chesterton Police said.
According to
police, on Monday the 60-year-old woman reported that earlier in the day
she’d received a call from a “J. Morgan” at the “FBI,” who told her she was
suspected of drug trafficking and that investigators had “found” seven bank
accounts in her name--in Texas and Mexico--with large sums of money believed
to be profits from her business.
The caller then
informed the woman “that she needed to close her local bank accounts and
obtain cash” or be arrested by federal marshals.
The call from J.
Morgan was followed by calls from two other people, who told her much the
same thing, that “she needed to pay any amount using EBay gift cards,”
police said.
The woman
accordingly obtained six EBay gift cards at CVS, at $200 each; three more in
the same amount plus one for $150 at Walgreen’s; and another one for $500 at
the Chesterton Post Office, police said.
Total amount:
$2,450.
After each
purchase, police said, the woman returned the scammers’ calls and provided
them with the cards’ transaction numbers.
Later, the woman
advised her daughter about the incident and was told that she’d been
scammed.
The investigating
officer called one of the numbers, with an Indianapolis area code, and
reached someone who identified it as a Marion County non-emergency line.
When the officer identified himself, the other person told him to hold for
her supervisor, which the officer did until he was disconnected several
minutes later.
The officer also
took a call to the woman’s phone from one of the scammers himself, at which
time he identified himself and said that he’d be investigating the incident.
To which the scammer replied “Good luck,” then hung up.
The incident has
been forwarded to the Investigations Division.