Friday, August 21, 2009 Captain’s Message: Criminals are becoming creative in this age of technology. They are able to access a great deal of information through internet search engines if they could just get a little critical information from the victim. They will use a simple phone call to get that information by posing to be a bank manager, lottery official or salesman. A victim receives a call from a person posing to their bank manager. The suspect states they have been monitoring suspicious activity on their account and asks to confirm their name, account number, and social security number. The victim in an attempt to be helpful will give that information. The suspect thanks the victim for his help and will call again if there is a problem. The suspect then uses the information to withdraw funds from that account or charge purchases to that account or opens a different account to leverage funds for purchases or other fraud. Another scam is a person posing to be a lottery official or salesman. The caller tells the victim he won a large lottery prize or a free vacation. All the victim needs to do is to pay for a processing fee. The fee ranges from one to five hundred dollars. The mailing address tends to be in the State of Florida, Canada, Great Britain, or Nigeria. The victim mails his check and waits for his winnings, but nothing arrives. If you get a similar call from your bank you should hang up and call your bank directly. These calls usually arrive after the bank is closed. Don’t give out any information over the phone. Captain Lazar will return on Monday, August 24th. It’s been a pleasure writing to you this week. Lt. Cassanego