West Virginia State Police are warning residents about an email scam where the scammer pretends to be with the agency’s Bureau of Criminal Investigations Division and offers to stop an investigation in exchange for money.
The emails say there is an active investigation and claims evidence will not be sent to the WVSP Forensic Lab for testing if the intended victim pays up. If you don’t pay, the investigation against you will continue, the scam email states.
“We urge people not to be deceived by these threatening emails,” Captain Shallon Oglesby said. “We have formal processes in place for conducting our investigations. The West Virginia State Police will not email, call or otherwise contact a person to demand money in exchange for not investigating a crime.”
Oglesby said only one person has reported the email and to her knowledge, no one has fallen for it and given the scammer money.
The WVSP provided four tips to spot a scam: calling for immediate payment to stop investigating a crime; requiring the use of a specific payment method, such as a prepaid debit card; asking for a credit or debit card number over the phone and threatening to arrest or pursue a case against you for refusing to pay.
Monongalia County Sheriff Perry Palmer said his department receives reports about phone scams but has not heard of any email scams going around the area. He echoed the state police’s advice about prepaid debit cards and said you should never give someone money over the phone.
If you suspect a call or email might be a scam, you should make an effort to contact the agency through their officially listed number or email from a website or phonebook.
If someone is targeted by a scam, they should report it to their local law enforcement agency, Palmer said.
