TROY, Mich. (WXYZ) — Troy Police are warning that there is a new scam targeting people. In recent weeks workers at two restaurants fell victim, potentially costing the businesses they work for thousands.
Troy Police say the businesses got a call from someone claiming to be at the executive level in their companies.
On October 30th, someone called Ocean Prime Restaurant, asked for the supervisor, then claimed to be the president of the corporation. He convinced the worker that there was an urgent situation and the worker needed to use $5000 of the restaurant’s money to buy gift cards, then provide pictures of the cards.
Then it happened again last week. This time someone scammed a worker at Five Guys in Troy. The caller convinced the worker to put more than two grand on Walmart gift cards, then send pictures.
“These suspects are extremely convincing,” said Sgt. Meghan Lehman of the Troy Police Department.
Sgt. Lehman says the scam artists did research on the company, and spoke with with authority.
“The scam artist is going to try to convince you they are a legitimate employee of the same business,” she said.
She says the two workers are not alone. The police department is receiving between 10 and 30 similar complaints each week. Often regular citizens are being asked to pay bills with a gift card, a request that should immediately raise a red flag.
“A lot of times these scams are perpetrated outside the country and our hands can be tied. That is why we are trying to educate people so they don’t fall for it,” said Lehman.
In one case workers realized quickly enough that this was a scam and may have been able to cancel the transaction before the money was stolen.
So what should you do if you get one of these calls? Answer: hang up. Troy Police say these scams are so prolific that police simply don’t have the resources to investigate them, unless there is a victim. It is best not to let that happen.
