They called me this a.m. They made the mistake once before! I called them back this time and got "agent" Michael Stewrat on the phone! Poor guy! After letting him know I knew it was a scam I kept his line tied up most of the morning until he trasfered me to one of his co-workers! After doing the same to him HE called me back to apologize for lying! Apparently, after berating he and his buddy calling them liars and thieves and telling them they were terrorists preying on the fear of others and to be ashamed of stealing from people and impersonating a federal agent that when I found them I would by pressing charges for harassment,theft,and that his GOD would be taking care of him at the Pearly Gates. the guy finally admitted that he worked as a telemarketer and was being paid to do this and he knew it was wrong! I apologized for calling him names but he needed to know he was the one breaking the law!!
From Billerica Police Department
Yesterday, one of our Officers took a report for a wire fraud case where the victim transferred almost $11,000 dollars to scammers. The victim was contacted on Facebook Messenger by an individual that claimed money was available through a government funded program called the "Empowerment Program". The suspect(s) made contact with the victim several times with instructions to wire money in order to secure the funds. The victim was eventually alerted by bank employees that they were likely a victim of fraud and to call police.
This is yet another painful example of how prevalent wire fraud has become. While this case is specific to Facebook, the scam is a familiar one.
To protect yourself from scammers, watch out for the following:
- People asking you for money who you don’t know in person
- People asking you for advance fees in order to receive a loan, prize or other winnings
- People asking you to move your conversation off of Facebook (ex: a separate email address)
- People claiming to be a friend or relative in an emergency
- Poor spelling and grammatical mistakes
Edited on 23 Mar · Shared with all areas in Billerica Police Department in
I've been receiving nuisance calls from this number...also 213.453.0506 & 424.213.2519. They are claiming to be from the IRS and are threatening law suit. I'm pretty sure this is a scam.
They called me this a.m. They made the mistake once before! I called them back this time and got "agent" Michael Stewrat on the phone! Poor guy! After letting him know I knew it was a scam I kept his line tied up most of the morning until he trasfered me to one of his co-workers! After doing the same to him HE called me back to apologize for lying! Apparently, after berating he and his buddy calling them liars and thieves and telling them they were terrorists preying on the fear of others and to be ashamed of stealing from people and impersonating a federal agent that when I found them I would by pressing charges for harassment,theft,and that his GOD would be taking care of him at the Pearly Gates. the guy finally admitted that he worked as a telemarketer and was being paid to do this and he knew it was wrong! I apologized for calling him names but he needed to know he was the one breaking the law!!