Crime & Safety
Collingswood Police Report More Scammers, Fraudsters
A man extorted nearly $5,000 from a Collingswood woman while allegedly posing as an IRS agent. Another victim discovered credit cards had been opened in her name.
Collingswood Police reported a pair of fraud-related scams in the borough, including one woman who was defrauded by a man claiming to be an IRS agent, and another who discovered three credit cards had been opened in her name.
On November 11, police were dispatched to a residence on Haddon Avenue to investigate a report of a theft by deception.
The victim related that she had received a phone call from a man identifying himself as an IRS agent. He allegedly told her that she owed $9,800 to the federal government, and that unless she came up with half that amount, she would go to jail.
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The victim then bought $4,700 in PayPal gift cards at Wal-Mart, called the man back, and gave him their serial numbers. After the information had been transferred, the victim realized that it was a holiday, and that government offices—including those of the IRS—were closed.
Just five days earlier, police received reports of another Collingswood resident who said that someone had obtained her personal information and opened three store credit cards online.The victim became aware of the theft when one of the stores sent a notice to her home. She notified fraud departments and the credit bureau. Police don’t know whether any transactions had been made with the credit cards.
In October, police received a report of a scam victim who learned that someone had allegedly tried to withdraw money from the Sun National Bank with his stolen credit card, while another resident was scammed out of $4,800 in a check cashing incident.
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