On Friday, May 6th, Wayland officers received a report from a Wayland man of a possible scam. Upon arrival, officers met a man that had sent $850.00 via Western Union to Mexico after receiving a fraudulent telephone call. The caller claimed that he was a friend of the man’s grandson and he needed money for an emergency. After receiving the original $850, the man called back requesting more money. At this point, the victim began to get suspicious and he checked with his grandson and learned he was not in Mexico.
Wayland and other police departments have received numerous reports of this and other telephone or internet scams. In an effort to educate the public to the most frequent scams a card titled “Are You Wiring Money? STOP!” has been distributed to area banks and locations the have the ability to do wireless transfers. The goal of the department is to prevent these losses from occurring because once the money is sent by a wireless transfer it is rarely recovered.
