SAN ANTONIO — One scam makes you the prime suspect in a money-laundering scheme. Here is the general script scammers use:
Law enforcement calls or texts you that police found an abandoned car rented in your name along the Texas border. The car has drugs and blood in it. They also tell you there are multiple bank accounts in your name that are involved in money laundering. They say you are a victim of identity theft, and that they want to help you. Then you are asked to protect your money by sending it to a secure federal locker to keep it safe until this issue can be resolved.
The variation is they try to trick you into sending money by not directly asking to do so.
“It’s the twist, right?” said Jason Zirkle, the training director for the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. “They’re not sending us money. They’re saying, 'Hey, put your money in this federally insured federal locker.' People have started to get wise about sending the money to them.”
That federal locker is the scammer’s own account—and once the money is gone, you can't get it back.
“Federal lockers are not a thing,” Zirkle said. “They don’t exist. There is no such thing as a federal locker. It’s just when you try to stand back and look at it logically, it’s just not the way law enforcement does things.”
Regardless, police are never going to call or text you. They will come to your door, in person. That's why you should be careful of caller ID; it's easy to copy numbers to make it look like someone official is calling you.
“People will think, ‘Oh, I can’t hang up on a police officer,'” Zirkle said. “But, yeah, if you are not sure whether or not they’re a scammer, hang up.”
If a law enforcement officer contacts you, end the communication and call that agency directly if you are concerned there is an issue.
“Google the non-emergency phone number for law enforcement in your area,” Zirkle said. “Call them and say, ‘Hey, I’ve gotten this call that I may have a warrant for my arrest. What’s the deal?’ They will almost certainly tell you that it’s a scam.”
Other steps to take to protect yourself include:
- Never clicking on any links from an unsolicited text or email.
- Refraining from using the same password for multiple accounts. Instead, use a password manager.
- Never sending money or information to someone you don't know personally.
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