Victim scammed out of $8K by Marina PD imposter

A victim was scammed out of thousands of dollars after a caller demanding money claimed to be the Marina Police Department.

According to Marina PD, the victim paid the caller more than $8,000 in gift cards.

“In this case, the victim believed the call was legitimate because the caller ID displayed the City of Marina Police Department’s phone number,” said Marina PD.

The Marina Police Department said it does not call people to collect past due IRS tax debts. If you receive a call from someone claiming to be a Marina police officer, the department suggests you hang up immediately.

“Everyone is vulnerable to this type of fraud. Please talk to older parents and grandparents and educate them on how to avoid becoming a victim. Credit card companies and the IRS do not accept payments with gift cards from local retailers. Anyone asking for payment with gift cards is attempting to scam you,” Marina PD said.

On Thursday, the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office also posted to Facebook warning residents about scammers posing as them.

{“author_name”:”Monterey County Sheriff’s Office”,”author_url”:”https://www.facebook.com/Monterey-County-Sheriffs-Office-1417390841810291/”,”provider_url”:”https://www.facebook.com”,”provider_name”:”Facebook”,”success”:true,”height”:null,”html”:”&#lt;div id=”fb-root”&#gt;&#lt;/div&#gt;n&#lt;script&#gt;(function(d, s, id) {n var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];n if (d.getElementById(id)) return;n js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;n js.src = ‘https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v3.0’;n fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);n}(document, ‘script’, ‘facebook-jssdk’));&#lt;/script&#gt;&#lt;div class=”fb-post” data-href=”https://www.facebook.com/1417390841810291/photos/a.1419920161557359.1073741829.1417390841810291/2089394551276580/?type=3″ data-width=”552″&#gt;&#lt;blockquote cite=”https://www.facebook.com/1417390841810291/photos/a.1419920161557359.1073741829.1417390841810291/2089394551276580/?type=3″ class=”fb-xfbml-parse-ignore”&#gt;&#lt;p&#gt;Don’t be scammed by scammers this summer. nnBeware of a caller reported to be “Lt. Charles Whitman.” nHe will tell…&#lt;/p&#gt;Posted by &#lt;a href=”https://www.facebook.com/Monterey-County-Sheriffs-Office-1417390841810291/”&#gt;Monterey County Sheriff's Office&#lt;/a&#gt; on &#lt;a href=”https://www.facebook.com/1417390841810291/photos/a.1419920161557359.1073741829.1417390841810291/2089394551276580/?type=3″&#gt;Thursday, June 14, 2018&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/blockquote&#gt;&#lt;/div&#gt;”,”type”:”rich”,”version”:”1.0″,”url”:”https://www.facebook.com/1417390841810291/photos/a.1419920161557359.1073741829.1417390841810291/2089394551276580/?type=3″,”width”:552}