Downers Grove Police Call Back Suspected Phone Scammer

A man running a suspected phone scam got an unexpected call Monday from a Downers Grove police officer.

The officer made contact with the man after the man called a resident earlier that day. The man claimed to be with the New York Division of the FBI, according to a police report. During the 3:56 p.m. call, the man claimed that the resident was being investigating for check fraud. She was told to pay off a $704 fine by going to Walmart or Walgreens and purchasing a Green Pak card, police said.

Police dialed the number that the woman was provided. After the officer identified himself as being with the Downers Grove Police Department in Illinois, the man replied "I did not call you." After a brief exchange, the man said "do what you have to do" and hung up. The officer's Google search of the number came up with multiple posts about people receiving similar calls from a man claiming to be someone from the FBI.

The woman initially let the answering machine pick up a call that just came up as "New York call" on her caller ID. This is when the man left a message about being from the FBI and investigating a legal matter. The man left a name to ask for and a number in the message and the woman called it.

The woman used the name she was given and then another man with a foreign accent answered the phone. The woman said she was never actually transferred, according to the report.

The man with the accent told the woman she was being investigated for writing bad checks. The man said she could be sent to jail for 10 years if she didn't resolve the matter by paying the fine.

"(The woman) advised me that she thought the male could possibly be from the FBI because he knew all her personal information including her social security number and sounded official," the report said.

The woman said she was going to call the police to verify if she could pay a fine over the phone without going to court. The male became angry and told her if she involved the police, "the deal would be off and he would file the charges against her," according to the report. She told him she was going to call police and hung up on him.

It was unclear if the men claiming to be from the FBI would be investigated further. Portions of the police report for this incident provided to the media were redacted.

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Police Blotter information is provided by local law enforcement agencies. Charges are not evidence of guilt. They are a record of police actions taken on a given day, and persons charged with a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty in court. If you or a family member are charged or cited and the case is subsequently adjudicated, we encourage you to notify the editor. We will verify and report the outcome.