WILMINGTON, MA — The Wilmington Police Department shared the following scam alert from the Billerica Police Department on Wednesday:
Yesterday, one of our Officers took a report for a wire fraud case where the victim transferred almost $11,000 dollars to scammers. The victim was contacted on Facebook Messenger by an individual that claimed money was available through a government funded program called the “Empowerment Program”. The suspect(s) made contact with the victim several times with instructions to wire money in order to secure the funds. The victim was eventually alerted by bank employees that they were likely a victim of fraud and to call police.
This is yet another painful example of how prevalent wire fraud has become. While this case is specific to Facebook, the scam is a familiar one.
To protect yourself from scammers, watch out for the following:
– People asking you for money who you don’t know in person
– People asking you for advance fees in order to receive a loan, prize or other winnings
– People asking you to move your conversation off of Facebook (ex: a separate email address)
– People claiming to be a friend or relative in an emergency
– Poor spelling and grammatical mistakes
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