In the eight counties of Western New York, troopers handled more than 400 fraud cases in 2021, and losses totaled more than $1 million.
CLARENCE, N.Y. — New York State Police are investigating a number of fraud cases that so far in 2022 have cost Western New Yorkers more than a half million dollars.
One recent case involves a 79-year-old woman from Clarence who got a call from what appeared to be her bank. The scam caller said the woman’s account had been compromised, and she needed to mail $30,000 to Philadelphia because her money would be better protected in another state.
The woman fell for it, and that’s not all.
State Police say the next day she got another scam call. This time the caller said there was another problem and that she needed to hand over $47,000 to a courier. The woman, now suspicious, called New York State Police.
Troopers responded right as the handoff was about to happen.
“Here you are thinking that the person getting this money from the victim, we’d be arresting them, charging them. Justice served right? But that’s not always the case,” said Trooper James O’Callaghan, Troop A public information officer.
That’s because in this case, the man picking up the…
