Crime & Safety

Phone Scams Continue Locally, Police Warn

Brick reports latest incident. Toms River and Holiday City at Berkeley had previous reports

Though a recent wave of fraudulent phone calls have targeted seniors and stolen $10,000s, Toms River isn't the only town affected. Late last week the Brick Township Police Department announced residents there are also reporting phone scams.

"Recently there has been an increase in the number of reports from residents, particularly senior citizens," said Brick Police Capt. John Rein.

Rein said in some cases, the caller is requesting money to be sent to aid an alleged relative who is in trouble, and in other cases, callers state that the victim has won a lottery drawing, and must send a claim or processing fee to collect the winnings.

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In all of the cases the caller directs the victim to send money to them via Western Union, Rein said. All of the calls appear to have been originating from Canada. In a recent case a Brick resident was scammed out of several thousand dollars before calling police.

"Residents are advised to be cautious of calls of this nature and to never provide any personal information to the caller nor send any money," Rein said. "Residents should make every attempt to verify the authenticity of the caller if it is alleged to be from a relative."

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Anyone who may have been a victim of calls of this nature should contact Brick Police Detective Michael Bevacqua at 732-262-1120.


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