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Police & Fire
Englewood Swindler Admits Conning Families Out Of $1.5M In Cosmetics Company Scheme Englewood Swindler Admits Conning Families Out Of $1.5M In Cosmetics Company Scheme
Englewood Swindler Admits Conning Families Out Of $1.5M In Cosmetics Company Scheme A former Englewood resident admitted in federal court that he scammed three investors out of $1.5 million with a bogus cosmetics company. Matthew Benjamin, 53, used the money instead for car and house rental payments, food, international travel, legal fees, technology equipment and summer camp tuition for family members, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said. Benjamin, currently of New York, told the victims that his purported company, Clear Solutions Group, had lucrative contracts to purchase closeout or excess cosmetic inventory from one company that he planned to sell to another, Carpenito…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Police: Bogus Contractors Solicit 'Way Too Much Money' From NJ Homeowners In New Scam Police: Bogus Contractors Solicit 'Way Too Much Money' From NJ Homeowners In New Scam
Police: Bogus Contractors Solicit 'Way Too Much Money' From NJ Homeowners In New Scam A group of people posing as contractors approached a North Jersey home and tried scamming the owners out of money, prompting local police to issue a warning. The group stopped at a Florham Park home Wednesday, Aug. 26 and offered to do driveway and masonry work for the owners, local police said on Facebook. Since the incident, the group has tried to scam the homeowners out of “too much money to even mention,” police said. “These solicitors were not authorized and are part of a criminal element whose mere presence often delegitimizes our honest, legal contractors." Anyone with informa…

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by Valerie Musson
Police & Fire
Bronx Foursome Foiled By Central Jersey Woman, 77, In 'Grandparent Scam' Bronx Foursome Foiled By Central Jersey Woman, 77, In 'Grandparent Scam'
Bronx Foursome Foiled By Central Jersey Woman, 77, In 'Grandparent Scam' Three men and a woman from the Bronx were arrested after calling a 77-year-old woman from Monmouth County to say her grandson needed bail money, authorities said. After the caller told the elderly woman that people would come pick up the money at her house -- and that she shouldn’t tell anyone -- the unidentified senior citizen called her grandson to confirm he had not been arrested, Marlboro Police Capt. Stephen J. Levy said in a statement Wednesday. The grandmother then went to police headquarters to report the attempted scam and Marlboro officers arrested the foursome when they came to g…

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by Jon Craig
Police & Fire
ALERT: 'Grandson In Trouble' Phone Scams Cost Franklin Lakes Women $70,000 ALERT: 'Grandson In Trouble' Phone Scams Cost Franklin Lakes Women $70,000
ALERT: 'Grandson In Trouble' Phone Scams Cost Franklin Lakes Women $70,000 Heartless thieves took advantage of coronavirus isolation by stealing nearly $70,000 combined from two Franklin Lakes grandmothers in separate “grandson in trouble” scams, authorities said. Each victim – one 79, the other 75 – got a call saying that police had arrested her grandson following a traffic accident, Capt. John Bakelaar said. “In both cases, they had someone get on the phone posing as the grandson and laid static over the line to muffle the voice,” Bakelaar said. “They also informed the victims that an attorney would call them with details,. “A person did call them back posing a…

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by Jerry DeMarco