Crime & Safety
$40K Bank Scam Targets Harford County Resident
A resident dropped $40,000 in the mail to scammers, but doubts led her to call the Harford County Sheriff's office, which intervened.
BEL AIR, MD — A resident dropped $40,000 in the mail to scammers, but second thoughts led her to call the Harford County Sheriff's office, which intervened to stop the theft.
According to a post on the department's Facebook page, the scam victim received a phone call claiming there was fraudulent activity on her bank account. The scam caller, who posed as a representative of her bank, said she would have to mail them $40,000, which the bank would then wire back to her as part of a fraud investigation.
Authorities said the victim mailed the money but soon had second thoughts that the arrangement didn’t seem right, so she called the sheriff's office. Senior Deputy Crites went to a local parcel shipment store and deputies recovered the package before it was sent to the scammer.
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All $40,000 of the victim's money was still in the box and returned to her, authorities said.
Investigators learned the phone numbers used to place the scam call had been disconnected and the address the victim was told to send the package to in Florida had not been occupied for months.
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"As a reminder - trust your gut feeling! If it doesn't seem quite right, call for a deputy to assist you," the department said.
Bank of America shared these tips to help spot financial scams:
Pause. Verify. Stay vigilant.
- Pause: Scammers often try to create urgency. Take a moment to think. Does the request feel off? If it doesn't make sense, don't reply to a message, hang up. Trust your gut. It's okay to say no.
- Verify: Before you send money, share a code or give personal information, verify the request. Contact the person directly using a trusted source. This could be the phone number on the back of your card or a bank statement.
- Stay vigilant: Scammers count on silence. Talk with friends and family about messages and requests that don't feel right. A scammer's story may change depending on who they are trying to target, but the red flags often stay the same.
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