Wire Transfer Scams a Threat to Chelmsford Residents

CHELMSFORD, MA - Chelmsford police and local businesses are taking a stand against scammers that have been ripping residents off through bogus wire transfers, police said.

Chelmsford police have received several reports of phone and email scams in the community, police said.

Police have been putting up signs in CVS, Walmart, Walgreens, Stop and Shop, Hannaford, both post offices, the senior center and the Chelmsford Housing Authority to keep residents wary of the issue, police said.

“Our goal is to prevent residents from falling victim to these crimes. Hopefully, by partnering with businesses in town, we can deter this illegal activity,” Chief James Spinney said in a news release. “We ask that anyone who is wiring money to please take a moment to ensure their transaction is valid by calling police for verification.”

Here are two examples of how these scams have affected residents:

A Chelmsford resident was attempting to sell his bicycle on Craigslist in October when a "woman" emailed him asking if she could purchase it for $115.

The suspected scammer told the man she would write him a check for $1,400 and that he should deposit the check into his account and deduct the $115 for the bike and another $100 "for his troubles," police said.

The woman told him to wire the rest of the money back through MoneyGram and to send the reference number to her, police said. The man used a MoneyGram machine in a CVS to wire $1,209.80 to the "buyer" in Oakland, Calif.

The resident told his daughter about the situation and she warned him that is was a scam. The resident was able to get his money back through MoneyGram before it was too late.

In January, another Chelmsford resident received and deposited a check for $9,450 from Philadelphia. She was told to withdraw the money and deposit it into a Bank of America account. The resident did what she was told despite not recognizing the account number.

The resident later received a check for $13,840 from Houston, Texas, and deposited it before realizing she was involved in a scam. By the time she realized that it was a scam her account was down to $9,111.