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The Bartell Place resident was told that he’d just won a $950,000 sweepstakes and that he needed to wire $1,585 through Western Union to cover processing costs associated with the prize.
After sending the money, he was asked for more.
Ridgewood detectives are investigating.
Meanwhile, they are urging citizens not to fall for such scams.
Still, it continues to happen.
Wyckoff Police Chief Benjamin Fox barely had time to congratulate a 90-year-old borough woman who cleverly avoided becoming the victim of such a scam when a 68-year-old man from town reported being taken for $1,900.
“The only defense that law enforcement has against [people] who attempt financial scams on others is to report the incidents in the hope that people read it, preventing further scams from being successful,” Fox said.
Police everywhere urge that you call them if you receive such a call or email. They don’t consider it a bother or inconvenience.
On the other hand, they want to catch those who are hurting innocent people — and, they hope, prevent more people from having their savings looted.
ALSO SEE: How many more elderly victims will be scammed before you do something?
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YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: Upper Saddle River police today captured a “psychic/spiritualist” fugitive wanted in a fortune-telling scam that cost a victim $120,000. READ MORE ….
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PUBLIC SAFETY: Police are warning citizens not to be scammed by callers who claim to represent PSE&G and threaten to turn off electric and gas service if they’re not paid. READ MORE ….
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PUBLIC SAFETY ALERT: In another fraud that is becoming extremely common, an 87-year-old Wyckoff woman was swindled out of $6,400 by a man pretending to be a grandson in trouble. READ MORE ….
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PUBLIC SAFETY: A Wyckoff woman trying to rent an apartment for her daughter online lost $4,100 to a scam artist claiming to be a landlord, police said. READ MORE ….
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PUBLIC SAFETY ALERT: If a caller tells you that you just won a 2013 Mercedes Benz: You didn’t, say Paramus police, who are again warning the public to beware of phone scams — and to warn your older loved ones, as well. READ MORE ….
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YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: A 79-year-old Teaneck woman had a small safe stolen from her home this afternoon by a diversion burglar who pretended to be working for the water company, police told CLIFFVIEW PILOT tonight. READ MORE ….
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PUBLIC SAFETY ALERT: Phone scammers are victimizing more elderly residents every day, prompting a growing number of law enforcement agencies to urge people to warn susceptible loved ones. READ MORE ….
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PUBLIC SAFETY: An 83-year-old Wyckoff woman who was conned out of $4,000 by a caller could have been your mother, or your grandmother, or a friend, which is why police are warning citizens about the increasing number of phone scammers who prey on the uninformed. READ MORE ….
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SCAM ALERT: Ridgewood police have joined the chorus of local departments urging citizens to beware of a growing phone scam, after a 73-year-old village woman was conned out of $9,000 by a caller who said he was her grandson and an accomplice who claimed to be his lawyer. The “grandson” told the woman he was in an Ohio jail and needed bail money. He put the lawyer on the phone, and he convinced the woman to send four separate wire transfers out of state. She’ll likely never see that money again. READ MORE ….
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BE ALERT: The terrified man who prompted a Fair Lawn bank teller to trip a holdup alarm — bringing an army of tactical police officers who closed off area streets — was one of a growing number of victims of phone scammers first given widespread local attention last year. As CLIFFVIEW PILOT first reported last fall, the scam is hitting Bergen County residents hard. In one case, a Wyckoff couple in their 70′s lost $15,000 after being tricked into believing their son had been in car crash in New York City and needed bail money. READ MORE ….
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ONLY ON CLIFFVIEW PILOT: Police are increasing their warnings about the alarming spread of ransom telephone scams, including recent calls to unsuspecting loved ones in Saddle Brook, Midland Park and Glen Rock the past week — as well as two others, to Ridgewood and Wyckoff, that cost the victims thousands of dollars. READ MORE ….
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