Omaha police are warning the public of Craigslist scams after two incidents led to a bank robbery and an attempted bank robbery this week.Police confirmed these scams are connected to the West Gate Bank robbery on Monday and the attempted robbery of Bank of the West Thursday.In both incidents, a person answered a Craigslist’s ad in the employment and jobs section, authorities said. The ads said help was needed for an ill, elderly family member. Once a person responded to the ad, the scammer would respond, saying, “help needed for a sick family member to include light housework, grocery store runs, and helping with finances.” Lieutenant Kyle Steffen with Omaha Police said once the respondent was “hired” the scammer instructed them to go to the bank and withdraw money on their behalf to pay for the ill family member’s medical bills. He said the two women who responded to the ad or ads each carried out the robberies in similar ways. They handed their phone to the bank teller, expecting the person on the phone to relay bank information, seemingly unaware the scammer on the phone threatened the teller and demanded money. In the first case, the woman thought she’d made a withdrawal when the teller handed her the undisclosed amount of money.”At the moment, they did not think it was out of place,” Steffen said.Lt. Steffen said the women were instructed if they did get the money to deposit it to a Bitcoin ATM. Lt. Steffen said he’s never seen anything like this. “Well the initial reaction we were somewhat surprised,” he said.Saco Police Department in Maine also reported an alert of a similar scam on their social media only a few days ago. “After the first case , we’re certainly on the look out for it,” Steffen said.He said this scam also involves a second part, which involves taking personal information from the “hired” person. The scammer promises to pay the person through direct deposit for completing the “errand” and asks for bank information. Lt. Steffen said in one of the cases the scammer did manage to get bank information but wasn’t able to steal any money. “They had an account set up for this type of work where there wasn’t much cash in that account because they were trying to be safe when doing online work and they take the money out of the account once its deposited,” he said.Police suggest the public should be aware to not withdraw money on someone else’s behalf if asked and be wary of certain internet ads.”Anytime they start asking for money to be sent online that’s the biggest red flag that jumps up,” he said.Get the latest headlines from KETV NewsWatch 7
Omaha police are warning the public of Craigslist scams after two incidents led to a bank robbery and an attempted bank robbery this week.
Police confirmed these scams are connected to the West Gate Bank robbery on Monday and the attempted robbery of Bank of the West Thursday.
In both incidents, a person answered a Craigslist’s ad in the employment and jobs section, authorities said.
The ads said help was needed for an ill, elderly family member.
Once a person responded to the ad, the scammer would respond, saying, “help needed for a sick family member to include light housework, grocery store runs, and helping with finances.”
Lieutenant Kyle Steffen with Omaha Police said once the respondent was “hired” the scammer instructed them to go to the bank and withdraw money on their behalf to pay for the ill family member’s medical bills.
He said the two women who responded to the ad or ads each carried out the robberies in similar ways. They handed their phone to the bank teller, expecting the person on the phone to relay bank information, seemingly unaware the scammer on the phone threatened the teller and demanded money.
In the first case, the woman thought she’d made a withdrawal when the teller handed her the undisclosed amount of money.
“At the moment, they did not think it was out of place,” Steffen said.
Lt. Steffen said the women were instructed if they did get the money to deposit it to a Bitcoin ATM.
Lt. Steffen said he’s never seen anything like this.
“Well the initial reaction we were somewhat surprised,” he said.
Saco Police Department in Maine also reported an alert of a similar scam on their social media only a few days ago.
“After the first case [here], we’re certainly on the look out for it,” Steffen said.
He said this scam also involves a second part, which involves taking personal information from the “hired” person. The scammer promises to pay the person through direct deposit for completing the “errand” and asks for bank information.
Lt. Steffen said in one of the cases the scammer did manage to get bank information but wasn’t able to steal any money.
“They had an account set up for this type of work where there wasn’t much cash in that account because they were trying to be safe when doing online work and they take the money out of the account once its deposited,” he said.
Police suggest the public should be aware to not withdraw money on someone else’s behalf if asked and be wary of certain internet ads.
“Anytime they start asking for money to be sent online that’s the biggest red flag that jumps up,” he said.
Get the latest headlines from KETV NewsWatch 7
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