Village of Lake Orion issued the following announcement on Oct 13.
On October 7, at approximately 10p.m., the Bloomfield Township Police Department received a call from a resident claiming she was swindled out of $21,000. The victim received a call from a man claiming to be a U.S Border Patrol Agent. The man said her identity was used to fraudulently open a bank account that was being used to conduct crimes. In order to remedy the situation, the caller instructed the victim to withdraw $21,000 and deposit it into a cryptocurrency ATM located at a gas station in the city of Troy.
The caller asked the victim what the nearest police department was to her house and she told him Bloomfield Township Police. Before the call ended, the victim provided the caller with her name and address. Several minutes later, the victim received a call from a number listed as “Bloomfield Township Police” on her telephone’s caller ID. The male caller identified himself as Chief Phillip Langmeyer. The caller told the victim if she did not follow the instructions given by the previous caller, she would be “guilty of a crime”. The victim withdrew the money and deposited into the ATM as instructed.
The Lake Orion Police would like to remind the public that no law enforcement agency will ever instruct you to pay or assist in an investigation by withdrawing funds and depositing them into an ATM.
The public is reminded not to provide personal information over the phone to callers they do not know. If anyone questions the legitimacy of the call, they should immediately hang up and call the agency’s nonemergency number for verification.
Original source can be found here.
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