Haines Borough police chief Gary Lowe is warning residents of scams that have twice in recent months defrauded older residents.
In both incidents, a caller convinced Haines residents to wire money by Western Union to an overseas location. More than $6,000 has been lost to the scammers, Lowe said.
In the most recent case, a individual claiming to be a lawyer in Spain said they needed money to free the Haines person’s grandson from jail. “It’s a common fraud that goes on. People never should send money unless they know the person they’re talking to and that person is their relative,” Lowe said.
“I never even give my credit card number over the phone,” Lowe said. “If somebody wants to do business with me and I think it’s legitimate, I tell them to send it to me in the mail.”
The earlier scam occurred around February and was an e-mail message that a loved-one had been robbed of their wallet and needed money. In that instance, the scammer had successfully broken into the loved-one’s e-mail account, Lowe said. Money wired outside the United States is almost impossible to retrieve, Lowe said.