‘Evil geniuses': Prince George's police arrest 2 in sophisticated scam

Prince George’s County police arrested two suspects in connection with what investigators call a scam targeting residents across the DMV.

“This was quite ingenious,” said one of the victims, who remained anonymous to protect himself from other scammers. “I mean, I was dealing with people I would call evil geniuses.”

The nightmare started for him when he received a pop-up on his computer screen stating his laptop and bank account had been compromised. He called the number on the screen he thought was tech support for Microsoft, police said, and his bank.

“I looked at my phone directory for my bank’s support line,” he said. “I did not know that when I called that number and heard the familiar sound on the other side, that that number was actually hijacked from India. She persuaded me along with the Microsoft guy that my putting money at jeopardy was actually safeguarding it.”

But the people on the other end of the call were not from his bank or Microsoft.

After listening to the fraudsters’ directions, the victim says he withdrew $40,000.

He was told to give his money to a carrier, but he also tipped off police, and they were there to arrest a man police say is from New York.

“The victim reported it to the police, and we were able to gather enough information to create an investigative plan to apprehend the suspects for both cases,” said John Quarless of the Prince George’s County Police Department Financial Crimes Unit.

In the other case, police said they arrested a man from Ohio who allegedly went to another victim’s home to take more than $700,000 in cash and gold bars.

“As technology advances, scammers have an opportunity to easily have access to victims,” Quarless said.

According to county investigators, scams have cost Prince George’s victims more than $1 million so far this year, and that’s just the ones victims have reported, which is why local and federal agencies want to get the word out.

Last year, Americans lost more than $16.6 billion due to scams with some fraudsters even showing up to the victim’s home, the FBI said.

“It’s shocking, the audacity of the scammers sending individuals directly to the homes of the victims,” FBI Supervisory Special Agent Keith Custer said.

The victim who spoke with News4 hopes his story motivates others to be on the lookout for the future.

“Helps expose other people that this scam is no longer as viable tomorrow as it was today,” he said.

To avoid becoming a victim of such a scam, police advise calling your financial institution directly — the number on the back of the bank card — and making an in-person visit to the bank. If a scammer urges you to move your money to a separate account, immediately hang up the phone.

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