Full Notification

Moorestown Police want to make residents aware of internet/email/telephone fraud that has been reported by residents.
“Acquaintance in Distress” Fraud. The receiver/victim will receive an email from a known acquaintance of the victim stating that they are overseas, usually in England and have been mugged or in jail needing money wired to them. The email in the most recent case originated from Lagos, Nigeria.
In a case under investigation, the sender email address was obtained by hijacking the true person’s email account and address book and then emailing everybody with the fraudulent request for money. This is usually accomplished by the perpetrator sending an often innocuous email to the sender with an attachment containing a program which when opened allows the perpetrator to take over the email account. Needless to say, be very careful when receiving emails from unknown sources asking you to open an attachment.
“Grandchild needs Bail” Fraud. This fraud preys upon senior citizens. Usually a telephone call is made to the victim in which the caller purports to be a grandchild who is in jail in Canada and needs bail money wired. We have been fortunate to this point that potential victim’s have either called the Police Department or other relatives to assist in confirming the legitimacy of the call before wiring money out of the country to these fraudsters.
Please feel free to contact the Police Department for additional information at 856-914-3041. Also visit www.fbi.gov/scams-safety/fraud for more information on these and other popular fraud schemes.