WALLINGFORD — Town police issued a warning this week alerting residents to scammers posing as DEA agents and police officers.
According to police, a resident said they were contacted over the phone by a group of people identifying themselves as a DEA agent and a member of the Wallingford Police Department.
Callers reportedly demanded the person purchase gift cards and send photos of those gift cards to them. If that person did not comply, they were told they would be arrested. Police said the callers contacted the resident from a phone number matching the police department’s own main line.
Police said the reported Wallingford call scam appears to be an isolated incident, but comes as the frequency of similar ploys is expected to pick up in the coming months.
A Meriden resident fell victim to a scam in December in which callers falsely claimed to have kidnapped a citizen’s loved one.
Wallingford Police Chief John Ventura said extortion hoaxes such as those seen in recent weeks frequently target senior citizens, typically come and go in waves and tend to occur most regularly in the lead up to tax season.
“It really goes in spurts,” Ventura said. “You have certain scams that are prevalent for a short period of time. Around tax time, there’s always the IRS scam.”
Scam callers frequently follow patterns which can make identifying fraud easier, but their methods of obtaining a ransom are growing increasingly sophisticated, hampering…
