Arlington police say someone is posing as a police officer to try to scam money out of convicted sex offenders.
In a search warrant obtained by NBC 5 Monday, police say between Jan. 3 and Jan. 10 someone targeted at least 18 convicted sex offenders who were told they owed thousands of dollars in fees that needed to immediately be paid or face arrest.
In the court document, police said a convicted sex offender called police and said someone pretending to be an officer called him and said he was with the Arlington Police Department and that he was not compliant with his sex offender registration and that there was an active warrant out for his arrest.
The caller told the man he must immediately pay a $2,000 bond and kept him on the phone as he went to the bank to withdraw the money. The caller then told him to go to local stores and to purchase American Express gift cards and then send him the numbers.
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The victim provided police with a receipt for his ATM withdrawal and the numbers to the American Express gift cards. Investigators reached out to American Express who provided transaction records for the cards which showed the money was spent at an Apple Store in Boston and were used for Paypal transactions in Austell, Georgia, and San Jose, California.
After taking the man's report, police were contacted by other convicted sex offenders who reported receiving similar phone calls demanding thousands of dollars in fines that could be paid via gift cards.
One of the convicted offenders told police he spent $3,000 on MoneyPak gift cards while another said he'd spent $2,000.
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In the affidavit, police said an actual investigator posed as a convicted sex offender and spoke on the phone with one of the people claiming to work for the department and they, too, were provided instructions for paying a bond with gift cards.
The investigation into the phone calls has, so far, led police to a telecom company in Chicago, but no arrests have been announced. The investigation into the calls is ongoing.
Gift cards have topped the list of reported fraud payment methods each year since 2018, according to the Federal Trade Commission. Experts warn that people should never make payments to companies with gift cards, via wire transfers or mail-in cash for any reason and that requests to do so are likely fraud.
