The Chillicothe Police Department is investigating after an area resident reported losing thousands in a Craig’s List scam.
A woman on Friday reported she had been scammed out of $2,500. Officer Michael Smith said the victim was attempting to purchase a vehicle off of Craig’s List. The woman was told to pay for the vehicle by purchasing Walmart gift cards and providing the seller with the card numbers and their PIN. After doing so, the victim said the seller stopped communicating and she learned that the money had been removed from the card.
Officer Smith said they come across this type of scam often.
“We see it more often then not. The most unfortunate thing is we see sometimes they target the elderly,” Smith said. “When you’re making a purchase online to somebody that you’ve never seen or talked to before or if there’s not a phone number or something that you can contact them on we would advise you to probably stay clear of that seller.”
He urges people to use caution when dealing with purchases over the internet. He said another common scam he encounters comes from buyers online.
“The individuals will contact you about purchasing something from you. They will say, ‘Okay I’ll send you a check,’ and they’ll send you a check in the mail. You’ll get a check, let’s say if you’re selling something for $500 then they’ll give you a check for $3,000. When you receive that check and you call them they’ll say ‘Yeah I’m going to send someone pick that item up for me will you just give the rest of that money to them?'” Smith said. “That check is usually a fraudulent check and the bank doesn’t find out about it for a day or two and then that person is out the money and has to pay the bank back that money.”
Smith said it’s best to use caution when dealing with buying and selling online.
“Unfortunately a lot of those are targeting towards the elderly. We’ve gotten pretty good with some of the local businesses where if they see an individual come in and pick up a gift card for an unusual amount usually their employees will start asking questions to maybe make sure it’s a legit reason they’re picking up these cards,” Smith said. “Sometimes we get calls from business at that time letting us know, ‘Hey you might want to come down here. We tried to talk to them and you might just come down here and let them know what’s going on.'”
He said, when in doubt to call authorities first.
“If you even have the slightest gut feeling that things aren’t right feel free to contact your local law enforcement and explain the situation with them. They’d be glad to take the time to explain to you or maybe look into it a little bit more,” Smith said. “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”