Lincoln woman out nearly $60,000 in online scam, police say

LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) - The Lincoln Police Department is investigating two separate fraud cases. In once of the cases a woman lost nearly $60,000.

Tuesday around noon, a 27-year-old man reported to police that he was communicating with a woman he met on a dating app and did not know.

According to LPD, the man then received messages from a stranger who claimed to be the father of the woman he met on the dating app and that she was 15-years-old.

Police said the man was then contacted by someone claiming to be an LPD sergeant who said the man needed to cease communication with the woman on the app and pay $3,000 to keep the situation out of law enforcement.

LPD said the man did not send money to the person claiming to be an LPD sergeant.

LPD officers will never contact residents and demand money or gift cards to avoid a warrant or issue with law enforcement.

Hours later, around 5 p.m., police received a fraud report from a 64-year-old woman.

According to police, she explained that she’d received an email alerting her there were fraudulent charges on her Amazon account.

Police said she called the number in the email and the individual on the line told her to go to the bank and transfer $58,000 to someone in California.

After the transfer, LPD said the woman called the individual who explained she needed to go back to the bank and cancel the transaction.

LPD said when the woman went into the bank to follow through on the request, bank workers explained to her this was a scam.

Avoid Getting Scammed

LPD is reminding everyone: if you are contacted and someone requests that you provide payment or move funds, it is always advisable to end the call, hang up and place an independent call to the company to verify authenticity of the request.

Law enforcement said scammers are convincing and use tactics that can seem legitimate. If you feel unsure, it’s always okay to hang up, take a second look at information received and reach out to someone you trust.

More: BBB Scam Alert: Top tricks used to scam older adults

You can also reduce the number of unsolicited calls by registering your phone number with the National Do-Not-Call registry at 1-888-382-1222 or Donotcall.gov.