By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
Two senior citizens were tricked out of a large sum of money in Thurston County by someone impersonating a police officer phoning to say their grandchild was in jail.
In both cases, the male caller identified himself with a name and rank and told the targets to go to Safeway and purchase a $3,000 Reloadit Gift Card, and then call a phone number to provide the numbers from the gift card, according to the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office.
One of the victims lost all $3,000 and the other told the person she could not afford that much so they settled on $500, so she lost that, sheriff’s Lt. Cliff Ziesemer said.
The incidents both occurred during November, according to Ziesemer.
The Thurston County Sheriff’s Office would like the public to be aware of this phone scam.
“As a general rule, if someone is calling you requesting or demanding money and you do not know who they are, assume that it is a scam and hang up,” Ziesemer said. “You also should never provide personal information to anyone over the phone to anyone who calls you.”
In these incidents, the first caller identified himself as “Sgt. Hunter” but did not indicate which department he was from. The other caller said he was “Capt. Craig Perry” from “Bend Police Dept.”
Anyone who receives phone calls that are requesting money or personal information are asked to please call their local police department or sheriff’s office and file a report.