Crystal City Police, working in conjunction with Pevely Police, recently helped an elderly woman get back the $20,000 after she was the victim of a phone scam, according to Crystal City Police Capt. Mike Pruneau.
He said the incident happened July 26.
“One of our officers, Officer Madaline Wiskirchen, got a call of a possible fraud,” Pruneau said. “The call was from a home in the 600 block of Lindsay Ave. (The officer) was contacted by an elderly lady, 76. She said she thought she might be the victim of fraud.
“She had received a call and the male voice identified himself as an FBI agent. He said she owed the FBI $20,000 cash. He told her to go to the bank and get the money. She did this, packaged it up and sent it by UPS. This all happened the same day.”
After some point later in the day after taking these steps, the woman called Crystal City Police, who took action to see if the money could be retrieved.
“(Wiskirchen) called to get a tracking number for the package and contacted the UPS facility in Pevely and put a hold on the package,” Pruneau said. “She then contacted Pevely Police and had them secure the money until the woman could come and get it. The woman went to the UPS and got her money back.”
Pruneau praised Wiskerchen, noting that such fraud cases rarely work out so well for the victim.
“It was a great job by the officer,” he said. “Her quick actions led to the recovery of the money.”
No arrests have been made.
“A lot of times, these phone scams come from other countries,” Pruneau said. “We share the information with Homeland Security.”