Police said scammers tricked a man into working for them by convincing him they were a government agency investigating cybercrime. Loren Esse of Des Moines is facing charges for participation in a money laundering scheme that he was convinced was an investigation.”He started out in this case as a victim,” Des Moines Police Department Sgt. Paul Parezek said. “But as he continued on moving this money through these accounts and putting the cash into bitcoin and sending it on, what we realized was that he’s actually helping them facilitate this crime unknowingly.”Parezek said police tried telling Esse the scheme wasn’t real and that he needed to stop, but he was convinced the scammers were legitimate and kept helping them. The only way to stop him, was to arrest him.”There’s no detectives high-fiving each other over this. This is not something we are excited about; these scammers are very convincing,” Parezek said.So convincing, the department estimates phone scams have stolen around half a million dollars from the Des Moines metro. Esse was discovered to have sent scammers around $200,000 he had obtained from people.Police said there are a few warning signs to watch out for when receiving strange calls:Claims of authority; ex. sheriff, government agentthreats of arrestwarnings of ill will to family membersdemands of immediate paymentRequests for unusual forms of payment; cryptocurrency, wire transfers, gift cardspersistence and pushiness on the phone, agitation when questionedIf you think you may be the victim of a scam, you can contact local authorities and report it to the Federal Trade Commission.
Police said scammers tricked a man into working for them by convincing him they were a government agency investigating cybercrime.
Loren Esse of Des Moines is facing charges for participation in a money laundering scheme that he was convinced was an investigation.
“He started out in this case as a victim,” Des Moines Police Department Sgt. Paul Parezek said. “But as he continued on moving this money through these accounts and putting the cash into bitcoin and sending it on, what we realized was that he’s actually helping them facilitate this crime unknowingly.”
Parezek said police tried telling Esse the scheme wasn’t real and that he needed to stop, but he was convinced the scammers were legitimate and kept helping them. The only way to stop him, was to arrest him.
“There’s no detectives high-fiving each other over this. This is not something we are excited about; these scammers are very convincing,” Parezek said.
So convincing, the department estimates phone scams have stolen around half a million dollars from the Des Moines metro. Esse was discovered to have sent scammers around $200,000 he had obtained from people.
Police said there are a few warning signs to watch out for when receiving strange calls:
- Claims of authority; ex. sheriff, government agent
- threats of arrest
- warnings of ill will to family members
- demands of immediate payment
- Requests for unusual forms of payment; cryptocurrency, wire transfers, gift cards
- persistence and pushiness on the phone, agitation when questioned
If you think you may be the victim of a scam, you can contact local authorities and report it to the Federal Trade Commission.
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