Local authorities warn residents about ongoing scam calls

A string of scam calls impersonating the Wasilla Police Department (WPD) regarding a missed jury duty summons and asking for financial compensation has been targeting residents in the Mat-Su Valley. WPD warns members of the community that the department will never contact people telephonically regarding a jury summons nor ask for money to keep from being incarcerated.

The Frontiersman Newspaper received a message from a concerned community member that was contacted by the scammers last week. The sender wishes to remain anonymous but didn’t mind sharing his story to protect others in the future.

“I received a phone call from two individuals who claimed to be Wasilla Alaska police officers,” the sender wrote. “They first insisted that I had to go to the Wasilla Police Department to participate in a signature analysis to compare my signature to a signed document that I had supposedly signed last September declaring I would show up for jury duty. Eventually shifting to telling me I had a warrant for my arrest.”

While not all of these scams are exactly the same, the caller eventually requests some sort of financial compensation through purchasing Apple Gift Cards, conducting money transfers or performing transactions at remote kiosks like Coinstar machines or ATMs.

“They told me that I had to post bail for $25,000 or when I arrived at the police department I would be arrested,” the anonymous sender wrote. “When I told them I didn’t have that kind of money they wanted to know how much I could come up with. It seemed they were alluding that they might be able to help me find a bail bondsman.”

Lt. Michael Lopez of the WPD said that the scammers may claim that they are a captain from the department. WPD does not operate with captains. Lopez said that other tactics may include impersonating the department’s phone number on caller ID and using names of actual officers. Scammers may ask the person to stay on the line until they arrive at a determined location and to not contact the police department. The WPD warns the community that if the call sounds suspicious at all to hang up immediately and report the call to the department.

“If you are in doubt or feel like this is a scam, or it seems suspicious, or they’re trying to have you transact anything telephonically or collect personal information, not letting you hang up the phone, absolutely disconnect with them,” Lt. Lopez said. “Call the police department and we will be happy to verify that the call you received is a scam.”

The anonymous sender said that the conversation didn’t make much sense and that when he pressed the caller for more information, they became “belligerent” and threatened to come to his home and arrest him. The callers had his phone number and his address.

“I am 73 years old and I was very upset,” the anonymous sender wrote. “A nightmare had just turned to a real life daymare.”

The department receives upwards of a dozen reports of these scams per day when the scams are active in the area. Unfortunately, they have also received reports that the scammers were successful with their demands resulting in large financial transactions. Those that have fallen victims from the scam are often elderly members of the community.

Fliers have been made available at many financial kiosk locations as a PSA for users before committing to the transaction. The WPD has also pinned their scam alert to the top of their Facebook page in an effort to spread the word even further.

With the sophistication of technology, it is hard to determine where the scam callers are actually located. Lt. Lopez said that many of the callers are from out of state. The department refers those that have received the call to report the scam to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) at www.ic3.com.

“It’s sad for us when we see people fall victim to the scam,” Lt. Lopez said.