Crime Prevention Advice 2017

Darien Police Offer Advice on Staying Safe During the Holidays

Norwalk Community College Student, 18, Loses $700 in Classic Check Scam

Darien Police Have Some Tips on Preventing Motor Vehicle Burglaries and Thefts

Police: He Said They Wanted to Reimburse Her. Instead, He Took $9,000

Preventing Bicycle Thefts: What Darien Police Are Doing and What You Can Do

Federal Trade Commission Advice After that Equifax Data Breach: What You Can Do to Protect Yourself

If You Get a Call Demanding an Immediate Tax Payment, It Isn’t from Darien Police

How a Darien Man Was Scammed with a Variant of a Widespread Check Deposit Scheme

Skimming Devices That Let Thieves Steal from Your Card Accounts Can Be Pretty Sophisticated

Watch Out for Fraud When Summer Job Opportunities Come Up, Better Business Bureau Says

New Scam for Small Business Owners: Social Media Notices of Government ‘Grants’

How to Lower Your Chance of Getting Scammed by an ATM Skimming Device

Skimmer Found on Darien Bank ATM

Man Tries to Attach Skimmer to Bank ATM, Returns Next Day & Steals $2,500-Plus with Phony Cards

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | December 28, 2017

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | December 1, 2017

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | November 15, 2017

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | November 1, 2017

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By David Gurliacci | September 18, 2017

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By David Gurliacci | September 8, 2017

News

By David Gurliacci | September 8, 2017

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | July 21, 2017

Public Safety

By RYAN BOLOGNA | May 21, 2017

Business

By David Gurliacci | May 7, 2017

Business

By David Gurliacci | March 25, 2017

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | February 22, 2017

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | February 22, 2017

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | February 1, 2017

Happy Holidays! The men and women of the Darien Police Department hope you have a wonderful time celebrating with your friends, family, and neighbors. __________

— an announcement from Darien Police Department

__________

To ensure a peaceful holiday season, please consider the following safety tips:

If you’re planning to go out of town for the holidays, let a trustworthy neighbor know so that they can keep an eye on your home. Don’t hide a key outside the house! Consider placing a hold on your mail and newspaper delivery.

Check Check Fraud Check Scam 07-21-17 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sweet_success.jpg

An 18-year-old Norwalk Community College student lost $700 last week to two men who used a classic scam, sometimes called a “fake check scam,” that’s probably several times older than the victim. The scammers knew what many people don’t: You can cash a check at your bank and walk away with the money, whether or not there’s money in the account named on that check. The bank, which doesn’t immediately check the other account, expects the bank’s customer to make up the difference if there’s insufficient funds — or no funds at all — to back up the check. On Wednesday, Nov. 29, a Fairfield man walked into Darien Police Headquarters to report the fraud.

For the past few months, towns in Fairfield County have experienced a substantial increase in the number of both motor vehicle burglaries and stolen motor vehicles. The Darien Police Department has employed various tactics such as unmarked patrols, “bait” cars, and other investigative methods in an attempt to deter and apprehend the persons responsible. What To Do
While we are doing everything we can to impact the recent increase in incidents, we want to take the opportunity to give the residents of Darien some guidelines on keeping their vehicles and valuables safe. Always Lock Your Vehicle
The vast majority of the motor vehicle burglaries we respond to are of vehicles that were left unlocked. Often the suspects will pass over another vehicle in the same driveway because it was locked.

A Darien woman was scammed out of $9,000 through a more sophisticated scam than usual, involving a caller who convinced her to download a program to her computer. Darien police described what happened this way:

On Tuesday afternoon, Oct. 24, the woman, a Long Neck Point Road resident, told police she believed she had been scammed. She said that she had received a phone call from a male (when the call came, police didn’t say). The male said he worked for a subsidiary of Microsoft and that his company owed her money as a reimbursement for computer software she had bought.

Bicycle Bike Darien Railroad Station Darien Train Station 09-18-17

After four locked bicycles recently were stolen from bike racks at the Darien and Noroton Heights railroad station, Darienite.com asked police Detective James Palmieri, a spokesman for the department, what police are doing and what bicycle owners can do to make the thefts less likely.

The recent thefts are only the latest spate in a long problem with stolen bicycles in town. Many unlocked bicycles are stolen from various locations around Darien, but bikes tend to be locked up at the train stations while commuters are at work. One suggestion Palmieri made for bicycle owners was to record the serial number of the bicycle: Knowing it can help police when they look through pawn shop records or if they suspect a bicycle is stolen and want to confirm it. Here’s what Palmieri said in an email exchange:

Darienite.com: Have police started watching the bike racks more closely?

Palmieri: Yes, we have a general time frame that seems to be when these bikes go missing so we have been watching during those times.

You shred your sensitive financial documents. You’re careful about not letting too many people know your Social Security number. You cover your hand when you’re punching in your credit card passcode. And then Equifax, the credit reporting agency, gets sensitive financial data for 143 million people stolen from it by a hacker. After this has been done, you may think there’s no hope.

You get a call from someone purporting to be an official, or even someone in law enforcement, who demands that you pay a tax bill or face dire consequences — and the caller is demanding that money now. That’s what happened to a Darien resident who recently received a call from someone purporting to be a police officer — and Caller I.D. indicated the call was coming from the Darien Police Department. THAT’S how clever these scammers can be. Darien police just issued a warning about it. Here’s an announcement from Darien police about the problem and the incident:

The Darien Police Department would like to warn residents about a sophisticated phone scam that is targeting taxpayers not only in Darien, but throughout the country.

A stranger approaches you about doing some job, either permanent or temporary. Before you start, they arrange to send you money to pay for some work-related expenses. You keep in touch by email or phone. At some point not long afterward, they have you send part of that payment somewhere else. You do that.

Greenwich Police Detective Mark Solomon GFP 05-21-17

Greenwich police Detective Mark Solomon recently shared an overview of recent frauds using “skimming” that steal credit or debit card information from unsuspecting victims.

The devices can be disguised as parts of ATM machines or work inside gas pumps and other point-of-sale devices. Even the machines on train station platforms have been rigged by greedy criminals eager to access credit card information. The machines often are set up by criminals, frequently in gangs of 20 to 30 members from Eastern Europe. ___________

— This article previously was published by Greenwich Free Press. ___________

Solomon is a member of the Connecticut Financial Task Force — which includes the IRS, the U.S. Postal Service, state police and local agencies — said it’s a challenge to keep on top of the ingenious strategies that target credit card and bank account information.

Work from Home sign Employment Jobs 05-07-17

If you are looking for part-time or full-time employment to make a few dollars over the summer, Connecticut Better Business Bureau cautions job-seekers to be careful when considering an unsolicited employment opportunity. “There are all sorts of legitimate jobs available, even work-at-home opportunities, but there are a number of red flags that can tell if you are applying for a real job or if someone is trying to get you to part with your personal and financial information,” says Connecticut Better Business Bureau Spokesman, Howard Schwartz. ___________
— an announcement from the Connecticut Better Business Bureau
___________
The red flags include, but are not limited to:
An offer that sounds like a dream job with no training or experience required; being offered jobs by telephone even if you never applied for them; promises of a generous salary; no face to face meeting and demands for upfront money sent by untraceable methods such as wire transfer or gift cards. The “recruiter” will tell potential victims they are hired without any face to face meeting, and that the candidate will have to send money upfront, supposedly for background checks, training and materials, their Social Security Number for income tax purposes and a bank account number to arrange direct deposit of salary. A legitimate employer will never ask for any of your personal information until after you have met, received a formal written offer with a job description, salary and other remuneration details.

Scam Online Reviews and Recommendations video FTC 03-22-17

If you’re a small business owner, you’re not getting a government business grant notice through Facebook. And if you get a message from a friend on Facebook asking them to “confirm” a business grant, it’s not coming from that friend. These are just new ways that have recently popped up to scam you, the Federal Trade Commission says. Don’t even reply to them — there’s some risk in even doing that. Here’s what the FTC has to say about it:

Scammers try to contact you in many ways.

You can make it less likely that you’ll become the victim of a skimming device placed on an ATM by a thief by following these steps, according to the FBI. Here’s the FBI’s list of tips:

Inspect the ATM, gas pump, or credit card reader before using it — be suspicious if you see anything loose, crooked, or damaged, or if you notice scratches or adhesive/tape residue. When entering your PIN, block the keypad with your other hand to prevent possible hidden cameras from recording your number. If possible, use an ATM at an inside location (less access for criminals to install skimmers). Be careful of ATMs in tourist areas — they are a popular target of skimmers.

For the second time in four weeks, someone tried to attach a skimming device to an ATM at a Darien bank, and in this case, the thief was successful, and money was later removed from a customer’s account. The device was attached sometime between 2:15 p.m., Feb. 11 and 11 p.m., Feb. 12 to an automated teller machine at Darien Bank & Trust at 777 Post Road (at the intersection with Sedgwick Avenue), according to police. In the previous incident, on Jan.

« August 2022 »

Bank officials at Fairfield County Bank at 714 Post Road, doing a regular check of their video surveillance recordings, found that a man was trying to attach a skimming device to an automated teller machine at the bank, failed, then returned to scam the bank out of $2,500 to $3,000. The bank branch manager reported the incidents to police on Tuesday, Jan. 24. Police gave this account of what happened:

At about 5:45 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 20, according to the video surveillance record, a man walked up to the ATM and tried to attach a skimming device, or skimmer, to it.