CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Paying to end criminal investigations is never an option with West Virginia State Police.
An agency spokesperson said residents need to remember that in case they’re targeted in a circulating scam as troopers continue to work to identify the source of the scam.
As part of it, people have received emails demanding payment from those falsely claiming to be with the State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigations.
The fake claim is that an active investigation is underway and payments will keep evidence from that investigation from being submitted to the State Police Forensic Lab for testing.
State Police “will not email, call or otherwise contact a person to demand money in exchange for not investigation a crime,” said Capt. Shallon Oglesby.
Investigators aren’t sure how widespread the scam is. Oglesby said they’ve only heard about the one case but there could be more.
“Our fear is that they’ll be successful with maybe an elderly person whose already in a financial strain but terrified of the thought of any jail time or anything of that nature,” Oglesby said.
Some signs of this scam include the following:
– A caller demands immediate payment to stop investigations;
– There’s a requirement for a specific payment method, like a prepaid credit card;
– Those contacted are asked for credit or debit card numbers over the phone;
– And there are threats of arrest or continued investigation without payments.
Oglesby said those who receives a questionable phone call or email they can call their nearest detachment.
“If anything seems out of the ordinary or maybe too good to be true, absolutely, contact your local State Police detachment and discuss it with a trooper there and they’ll set you on the right path,” Oglesby said.
MetroNews reporter Jeff Jenkins contributed to this story.