DATE & TIME: 08-26-2019 @ 17:17LOCATION: Rural CortlandOFFENSE: Theft By DeceptionCASE #: 2019-4570On Monday, 08-26-2019, at approximately 5:17 pm an off duty Gage CountySheriff’s Office investigator was at Wal-Mart when he overheard the cashier tellanother customer, “Ma’am, this sounds like a scam.”. The investigator noticedshe was attempting to purchase a Wal-Mart gift card and she was telling him,”No, he’s helping me get a refund.”.The investigator identified himself as an investigator for the sheriff’s office, askingif he could be of assistance.The customer stated she had been notified online that her Amazon account hadbeen charging her too much and when she called a number 877-887-8186 shefound on the Internet for Amazon. When she called the number a “Rich Patel”told her Amazon had been charging her too much and asked to be allowed to”control her computer” to verify that. She said he told her he had moved somemoney around on her account, but then told her she needed to immediately go toWal-Mart and purchase a gift card and give him the redemption numbers on theback, which she did. He then told her to go get another Wal-Mart gift card totransfer more money, which she was in the process of doing when, throughserendipity, the Gage County investigator was nearby and an alert andconscientious Wal-Mart employee was attempting to prevent her from beingscammed.She stated he had been communicating with her via text message from thephone number 808-633-9277 and he was still trying to communicate with her as Iinterviewed her. She was advised to cease all communication with him and toimmediately call the fraud number on the back of her bank debit/credit card. Shebelieved “Rich Patel” had transferred money, but when she called the bank’sfraud department via the phone number on her card, she learned she hadactually lost around $300.00.
After she finished her call with her bank, the investigator advised her to do thesame with her other bank account and any other credit or financial accounts shemay have.It is unknown how she was initially contacted, however fake technical support orother social engineering scams are continuously evolving and may have agenesis in some spam e-mail, phishing contacted, an unrelated theft ofinformation from a business or other entity.Sheriff Millard “Gus” Gustafson #903Investigator T. Hanson #90310