Man bilked out of $140K in phone scam

Police in Troy detailed how a resident of the city was scammed out of $140,000 last month, hoping others can avoid losing money in fraud attempts.

Police were notified on Dec. 22 about the scam, which involved the victim giving money in three different ways to the scammers.

The victim received a phone call from someone who called himself “Roger Miller,” saying he was from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

The caller told the man there was a warrant for his arrest “due to a package being sent to Texas from Columbia that was in his name and contained drugs and money.”

Another person joined the call, calling himself “Mark Hamilton,” from the Troy Police Department. The fraudulent police officer told the victim “not to go near the police station.”

“He was instructed to empty his bank accounts and wire the funds to two “government accounts” which he did,” police said.

First, the man wired more than $72,000 to a bank in Hong Kong.

Second, he wired another $45,000 to a bank in Thailand.

He was then given a phone number to call and was told to provide gift card numbers from Target and Best Buy, and the victim did so, sending another $20,000 to scammers.

Police regularly warn people that federal, state, or local police never ask for money to be sent, and no agency would accept money in form of gift card payments.

“Victim discovered he was swindled out of approximately $140,000,” Troy police said in their report.