Billerica – Over the past few weeks the Billerica Police have received repeated reports of various forms of phone and computer scams. Some of these scams involve unsolicited phone calls from individuals claiming to be government officials, usually overseas, calling on behalf of a family member that was allegedly placed into custody and needed financial assistance. Most of these calls are targeted at elderly residents where the caller identifies, by name, a grandchild that was reportedly arrested. The caller directs the target to quickly respond to a local Western Union facility and wire money to a location on their “grandchild’s behalf”. The money is allegedly needed for the child to be released from custody. Other scams involve mass emails being sent out to entire contact lists of various targets alleging that the individual was either arrested or had all of their belonging stolen and they need temporary financial help to get back to the United States. Again, as in all of these various forms of scams, the perpetrator attempts to get the target to act quickly and to use some type of wire money transfer service to send cash overseas.

Please use extreme caution anytime you receive an unsolicited contact and are asked to send money over a wire service. Feel free to contact your financial institution or your local police department for advice and consultation before taking any action.

Any additional questions should be directed to Lieutenant Roy Frost, 978-667-1212 x120