Don't Fall For The Scams: Newtown Twp. Police Chief Offers Advice

NEWTOWN TOWNSHIP, PA — Police in Newtown Township are urging residents to remain vigilant and to guard against falling for scams and fraudulent schemes.

“Please tell your parents, your friends and senior citizens to watch their financial accounts. They are being targeted,” said Police Chief John Hearn during his monthly report to the board of supervisors.

“No one from the Sheriff’s office will come to arrest you. Thieves are running utility schemes left and right. Scams are popping up on computer screens,” he said. “No one should be going to Walgreens or CVS to buy gift gift cards to pay off utility bills. You also can’t win the lottery by someone calling you on the phone,” he said. “And no courier should be picking up money from your home mailbox. They are all scams. Please do not fall for them,” said the chief.

“Please pay attention to your neighbors and educate them as well," he said. "Pay attention to your monthly bills and credit cards and report any unauthorized transactions. Checks are continuing to be stolen out of mailboxes," he said. "Thieves are washing the checks, changing the amounts and cashing your checks. And watch when you’re providing your online credit card number to online shopping sites, especially ones that are not verified.

“Many of these frauds are being conducted by overseas offenders and losses have been significant,” the chief reported.

Supervisor Elen Snyder offered her own cautionary tale. She said she almost fell for a scam when someone called her on the phone, supposedly from her bank and was asking her for her ID.

"This guy was so good until he tells me I can't get into my bank account until I provide him with a photo," she said. "I thought I was pretty good with this scamming stuff going around. You have to be sly," she said.

"It's costing us a lot of money and a lot of that money is going overseas for terrorist activities," said the chief. "It's very important that people pay attention to what they are doing. And they'll repeat call you," he said. "If they get something out of you today, six months later they will call you again and get you again."

In another note of caution, the chief is urging residents to lock their car doors overnight and to remove their key FOBs. Neighboring jurisdictions are seeing an increase in thefts from autos, he said.