Gates business falls victim to internet scam
Created: 05/11/2016 9:06 AM
The Gates Police Department is warning residents about an internet scam.
Police investigated a scam where a business in Gates had their email system hacked. According to police, the scammers sent an email from the company email account of the owner to the Chief Financial Officer (CFO). The email said that he needed to send a wire transfer for over $24,000 immediately to a person in the state of Washington. Police say the CFO emailed back and forth a few times with who he thought was the company owner and ended up sending out the wire transfer.
Police say at the same time the scammers had targeted an elderly male in the state of Washington. They befriended him on Facebook using the fake account of a female. According to police, the scammer told the man that she had just moved to Nigeria from the United States and was having a hard time getting her money. Police say the scammers convinced him to get the wire transfer that the Gates company had sent and wire that money to them in Nigeria.
By the time the Gates company realized what had happened, police say the money had already been picked up and wired. Gates police, working with police in Washington, identified and spoke to the elderly man. He had not profited at all and had receipts showing he had sent all of the money by wire transfer to who he thought was his new female friend in Nigeria.
Police would like to remind everyone to never send a wire transfer to anyone without knowing exactly who they are. They also say that almost no legitimate company is going to call you or email you and ask you to wire them money immediately.
If you are the victim of any type of internet crime you can report it here.
