Threatening Calls to Rodgers Forge Woman Likely Foreign

Baltimore County police say threatening calls made to a Rodgers Forge woman were likely made from out of the country.

, a 81-year-old woman in the 100 block of Dumbarton Road received a call around 3 p.m. on June 16. The man on the other line identified himself as "Peter Williams," and told the woman she had won $5.6 million. The woman hung up the phone, but the man called multiple times until the woman's adult son picked up the phone. The caller told the son that he wanted $10,000 delivered to Dunkirk Road by 4 p.m. that day, or he would kill them both.

The man contacted then police.

The area codes used on the calls were listed as outside of Maryland.

Detectives investigated the calls and now "do not believe the phone calls originated in the United States," said police spokeswoman Cpl. Cathleen Batton. "They do not believe there was any actual threat to the victim."

Batton said phone scams like this one are relatively common nationwide.

"Sometimes they are reported to the police, sometimes they are not," she said. "Sometimes a particular area may receive a series of phone calls and then they'll move on to another area."

Batton warns residents not to answer calls from unfamiliar numbers.

"If you are receiving a phone call from a long distance phone number that you don't recognize, you can always let it go to voicemail," she said, reminding residents "regardless of who is calling and asking for money, to always verify who you're speaking to on the phone."

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