Consumer and Finances
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A Red Flag That You May Be Getting Scammed: They Want Payment Through a Gift Card

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Gift cards are a great way to give a gift. But did you know they are also a scammer’s favorite way to steal money? According to the FTC’s new Data Spotlight, more scammers are demanding payment with a gift card than ever before — a whopping 270 percent increase since 2015. — This article is from the Federal Trade Commission’s Consumer Information blog. The author, Cristina Miranda, works in the FTC Division of Consumer and Business Education.

Public Safety
Police

Elderly Woman Loses $1,000 to Thief in IRS Phone Scam

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A 74-year-old woman who works in Darien got a phone call from a man pretending to be an IRS agent, and within hours $1,000 was taken from her. The case involves a common telephone scam in which the caller is told to immediately pay money through a wire transfer or gift card or some dire result will take place — in this case, that she would be arrested for lack of a tax payment claimed by the scammer. Elderly people tend to be victimized by the scam more than others. Darien police gave this account of the matter:

The woman, a New Haven resident who works at a house in Darien, had received a voice mail message about a month before from a “Paul Brown” who identified himself as an Internal Revenue Service official. He claimed in the voice mail that the victim owed the government money and he told her to call 509-592-9796.

Public Safety
Police

Elderly Darien Man Victim of ‘You’re a Winner’ Telephone Scam

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An elderly Darien man, 87, wired $110 to a scammer who called the man to tell him he’d won $2.5 million in a lottery or contest, but the money was needed to process the payout, Darien police said. Police gave this account of the matter:

On Monday, Feb. 8, the Darien man got the phone call from a man who identified himself as “Daniel White.” The victim didn’t remember what the caller told him he’d done to win the money, but wrote down the instructions he was given to wire the money: Essentially, go to Walmart in Norwalk and wire the money to a “Charlotte Broughton” at another Walmart store in Texas. The man did so, and when he arrived back home, called his daughter to tell her the good news.