Telephone scams hard to trace

Criminals make the name of your bank pop up on the caller ID and advise you to call back at an unknown number. Never call back an unknown number. The IRS will never contact you by phone or email, only by U.S. mail.

With no face-to-face interaction and no paper trail, these scams are incredibly hard to trace. Also, once a successful deal has been made, the buyer’s name is then shared with similar schemers looking for easy targets, sometimes defrauding the same person repeatedly.

Examples of telemarketing fraud include the pigeon drop. In this, the con artist tells the individual that he/she has found a large sum of money and is willing to split it if the person will make a “good faith” payment by withdrawing funds from his/her bank account. Often a second con artist is involved, posing as a lawyer, banker or some other trustworthy stranger.

In the fake accident ploy the con artist gets the victim to wire or send money on the pretext that the person’s child or other relative is in the hospital and needs money. A break-off from this ploy is the telephone call for “grandpa” and when the elder asks if this is “junior,” then they have a name and inform the elder that the grandchild is in jail and needs bail money. This is usually accomplished by sending funds via Western Union and are generally unrecoverable.

April 4. Petty theft: The alert homeowner states a suspicious man keeps walking up and down the street fronting their property and is now on the porch of a nearby residence at midnight in the 600 block of Avenue F.

DUI: The required fancy footwork is a fail and there’s the added indignation of a temporary protective order service at 7:41 p.m. in the area of Avenue B and Wyoming Street.

Thought for the day: The energy-stealing pedestrian was located on the porch of a resident and was plugged in charging a wireless device.

April 5. Suspicious: The subjects were diligent in their golf practice but the proximity of automobiles on the highway to their launching point becomes an issue at 3:10 p.m. in the area of Tamarisk Lane and Claremont Street.

Domestic: The honeymoon is over and one subject is able to exit the scene and come to the lobby to make a report at 3:15 p.m. in the 800 block of Avenue B.

Thought for the day: The tee-off practice ends for the evening and all parties agree to move it to a more remote location in the future.

April 6. DUI: The driver acted intoxicated and is now going the wrong way on the highway at 10:12 p.m. in the 1500 block of Veterans Memorial Drive.

Battery: The subject tries to pepper spray an employee and the device (thankfully) malfunctions at 8:17 p.m. in the 700 block of Nevada Way.

Thought for the day: Thankfully, this impaired driver was stopped before anyone was injured.

April 7. Assist other agency: A nearby agency requests we make contact to see if the owner of an abandoned vehicle knows where their vehicle is at 3:05 a.m. in the 1300 block of Potosi Street.

Disturbance: The caller states there is a subject bathing near the trash dumpster at 5:35 p.m. in the 1600 block of Boulder City Parkway.

Thought for the day: I can only imagine my parents waking to find that I had taken their vehicle without permission. I assure you that you would be reading a different author’s words.

April 8. Family disturbance: One half comes to the station and the other half remains at home but confirms it has been a daylong argument at 2:50 a.m. in the 600 block of Avenue A.

Threats: One party insists the other hit them with a cane and has made various threats at 8:04 p.m. in the 600 block of Adams Boulevard.

Thought for the day: Deep breaths people.

April 9. Grand theft: The subject comes into the lobby to report a large number of tools have been stolen from a job site at 11:49 a.m. in the 500 block of Avenue L.

Traffic stop: The driver states a YouTube video about monkeys is the cause of his failing to maintain his travel lane at 9:54 a.m. in the 1600 block of Boulder City Parkway.

Thought for the day: Truth is stranger than fiction around here some days.

April 10. Suspicious: The caller states there is someone at the front door and the spouse is concerned because this person has been there an extended time at 1:33 p.m. in the 700 block of Darlene Way.

Trespass: The child exchange is complicated by a trespass warning at 5:36 p.m. in the 1400 block of Stacey Lane.

Thought for the day: There is a fine line between domestic bliss and domestic discord so make sure your legal paperwork is specific in regard to what each party is allowed and not allowed to do from the start.

Call of the week: Boulder City Police Department officers assist Nevada Highway Patrol with the carnage of a wrong-way driver on Interstate 11 that resulted in one death and many hours of traffic delays and detours at 3:05 a.m. April 9 in the area of mile marker 2.

Tina Ransom is a dispatcher with Boulder City Police Department. She is coordinator of the Boulder City Citizen’s Academy.