Douglas County Sheriff’s Office warns public of recent fraud trend

DOUGLAS COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO)-- The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a recent fraud trend where suspects are meeting victims in person to receive money and other valuables. 

The Sheriff’s Office stated they’ve already received three separate fraud reports, all in the month of July, and have outlined a list of similarities involving the victims in these cases: 

• Victim is elderly (70 years or older).
• Scam starts with a computer “error message” popping up on an I-Pad or computer.
• Victim calls the number on the “error message” and connects with a person who provides the scam in question via phone.  Suspect is granted access to the victim’s computer and can access the computer remotely.
• Victim is told to keep their conversations a secret and is instructed to either purchase gold or go withdraw large amounts of cash.
• Someone arrives and meets with the victim, who receives the cash/gold.
• Each time the people picking up the cash/gold are wearing face masks (medical), sunglasses, and have minimal contact with the victim (they’re concealing their identity.)

The Sheriff’s Office reported victims of these incidents have lost between $20,000, to more than $100,000. 

In one case, an 83-year-old woman received an alert on her iPad advising her to contact support after her iPad locked up. 

She called the provided number and began communicating with several men who claimed to be with a bank and started contacting her daily. 

They told her not to contact anyone else, including her family or law enforcement, and said that her bank account had been compromised. 

According to the Sheriff’s Office, she was advised to go to Walmart to purchase a cell phone. Following the purchase, the woman began communicating with the men.  

They told her to go to the bank and withdraw as much cash as possible because the bank couldn't be trusted and was going to be closing. Following the call, the woman withdrew $22,000 from two different banks. 

The Sheriff’s Office stated a man arrived at her residence to pick up the cash and gave her a code word they had agreed on prior. The woman gave him both the cash and the recently purchased cell phone.

The Sheriff’s Office describes the suspect in this case as an Indian man in his 30s or 40s, with an average to heavy build, and short black hair. 

He was driving a silver minivan with no rims on the passenger side of the vehicle. 

Anyone with information about this case and the suspect involved is asked to contact Detective Herring at mherring@dcsheriff.net. 

As an important safety tip, the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office is alerting the public to never let anyone take over your computer and never give money/valuables to anyone that you don’t know.