The Bowling Green Police Division has received reports of several members of the community receiving
telephone calls seeking money to provide for the release of family members from custody and/or for
medical treatment.
Citizens are advised that these calls have been found to be variations of scams designed to illicitly
obtain money from citizens.
Police warned that a number of scams operate under the premise of seeking money from potential victims.
This type of scam includes variations of the following:
• An offer that sounds too good to be true, like a rock-bottom price on expensive or hard-to-find
merchandise.
• You are the winning bid in an online auction and are dealing with a seller who will only accept a money
transfer as payment.
• You are told you’ve won a lottery or prize, but have to pay taxes or fees before you can collect.
• Someone responds to your ad claiming they have found your lost pet or jewelry and asks you to send
money for shipping or a reward.
• You are selling merchandise and receive a check for much more than your asking price, but are asked to
send the extra amount back through money transfer.
• Yo are offered a low-cost loan but must pre-pay fees or the first few loan payments using money
transfer services.
• You get a call from someone claiming to be a police officer or a hospital employee asking for money for
the bail or medical treatment of a loved one.
• You respond to an internet posting and are asked to provide details of a money transfer to someone you
have not met personally in order for them to "verify" the existence of a money transfer.
• You respond to a job ad for a Mystery Shopper and as part of the job you receive a check and are asked
to wire money back. Even though a bank makes funds available, it does not mean the check or money order
will clear. It can take weeks for a counterfeit check or money order to be discovered, at which time the
bank can deduct the amount that was originally deposited into your account.
Visit www.fakechecks.org/ecard.html for additional information on the mystery shopping scam.
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine publishes information related to such scams and has available a scam
alert widget through the Ohio Attorney General’s help center at http://www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/