MEQUON, Wis. — Police are warning about a rise of scam calls and emails in Ozaukee County while they attempt to find and arrest scammers.
Billy Boyle receives dozens of scam calls and emails each day. Normally, he filters them out well. Recently though, one of them almost got through his defenses.
It was an order confirmation for what looked like malware protection. It purportedly came from MalwareBytes, a company he had recently worked with but had not ordered anything from. When Boyle called customer service, he immediately grew suspicious.
Watch: Mequon neighbors say it's getting harder to spot scams
"As soon as I challenged them, immediately they hang up," Boyle said. "(Today it's) even more difficult to understand what's real and what's not real."
That close call is a reality felt by thousands of neighbors in the area, and many aren't as lucky. Captain John Hoell with the Mequon Police Department said they have been seeing a rise in a variety of scam calls and emails this year.
"They put fear in there so you're not thinking clearly," Hoell said. "We're talking losses in hundreds of thousands of dollars."
Many of the scams are familiar to the Department, like tech support scams or when a scammer claims you missed toll payments. One recent scam involves the would-be thief impersonating a law enforcement officer to demand payment for outstanding warrants.
The Ozaukee County Sheriff's Office posted audio of one such call on Facebook.
These cases seldom end in arrests, but earlier this year, Mequon cops were able to do just that. After a woman was scammed out of $15,000, she grew suspicious when the scammers asked for a second payment. She helped police officers with a sting operation that ended with the arrest of a courier.
"We were there when the courier arrived for that second payment," Hoell said. "(It let's) them know that we're here. We're trying to enforce this."
Mequon Police said if you do receive a similar scam call, you should hang up immediately and/ or alert police if you are suspicious.
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