A friends email account was hacked and everyone on her list got emails saying she was ill and stranded in Spain and needed $1100.00. Everyone was asked if they could send the money. Everyone knew it was a scam.

Recently a young Hispanic woman was walking around Town Square telling people she was visiting a friend and lost her wallet and needed $10.00 to get back to Brooklyn. I told her I don't carry cash and she quickly moved on to another person.

Well, common sense tells me that, in the event I ever get a call from one of these con artists alleging they have kidnapped a family member, they'd better get ready for an exhaustive interrogation on my part for the "artist" to provide every bit of detail about the kidnapped "victim"... to the point where the caller will just give up and realize I am not falling for the prank.

A similar type of scam actually happened to me but via Facebook. A friend of mine got her FB account hacked and the perpetrator started contacting people from her list of friends via FB chat messaging, pretending to be in London, having lost her purse, being in a public library for access to the internet and asking for money to be wired to her... oh boy, did I have a blast interrogating this hacker!!!

DO NOT EVER wire money to anyone that contacts you in situations like this, just report it to the police. It is sad to see how many people still fall for these scams...

Some rules to live by:
1. Don't answer the phone if you don't know who is calling.
2. Don't announce your name on your voice mail system. The automated greetings work best.
3. Make sure your number is unlisted and on the FCC do not call list.

Police warn of con artists preying on Jersey City residents

By Michaelangelo Conte/The Jersey Journal
July 25, 2013 at 10:19 AM

Jersey City police are warning residents of two scams being used to defraud residents out of hundreds of dollars and The Jersey Journal received a report of a third.

?These are both serious scams that are taking place, where residents are being defrauded hundreds, in some cases thousands of dollars, and we want to make the public aware so they do not fall victim to this fraudulent operation,? said Mayor Steven M. Fulop. ?Anyone who has been a victim of this type of scam should report it to the police immediately.?

The first con, which first appeared just over a year ago and has recently resurfaced, involves the perpetrator calling residents and saying they are holding a family member hostage and demanding money for their safe release, Jersey City spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill said.

In some cases, the caller says he has been involved in a car accident with a family member of the victim and he is with the family member and demands money to fix his vehicle or else. Police officials say the victims are kept on the phone while they travel to the Western Union and transfer funds, anywhere from $100 to $2,000, or buy a green dot money pack and provide the card number and pin over the phone, Morrill said.

The second scam targets the immigrant community, particularly the Indian and Hispanic community, with the perpetrators calling residents and saying they are from the Department of Homeland Security and that their immigration paperwork is not valid and an arrest warrant has been issued, Morrill said.

The caller then demands $700 or $800 to resolve the warrant and stays on the phone with the victim while he or she purchases the green dot money pack card and provides the information over the phone. In more than one instance, the perpetrator called back saying the money was never received and makes the demand again.

The police department has received numerous reports on both scams. If a resident receives a call of this nature, he or she should immediately call the police department at 201-547-5477 to report the incident. Do not provide any money or other information over the phone, Morrill said.

A Jersey City woman told The Jersey Journal of yet another scam. She said received a call from a man saying was with Publisher?s Clearinghouse and told her she won a car and more than $1.1 million. She told him it was a scam but he told her it wasn't, that a television crew would be at her home later in the day, her car would be delivered at 3 p.m. and the money would come the next day. All she had to do was buy a green dot money pack and send $100 for delivery of the car.

She bought the card and called the man giving him the card number and pin so he could collect the money and he told her the car was on its way. Later he called to get her bank account number so the prize money could be deposited but by then she had realized it was a scam and had called police.

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2013/07/post_337.html