La Salle police issue scam alert

The La Salle Police Department is investigating an incident that occurred in October during which an individual was contacted by an alleged Amazon agent who passed the individual on to an alleged government agent claiming to have a federal warrant for the victim’s arrest.

Ultimately, the individual was scammed out of thousands of dollars.

There have been similar scams throughout northern Illinois involving people receiving phone calls from Amazon, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service, among other agencies.

These incidents result in the individual learning there is a warrant out for their arrest, but they can prevent arrest by providing an alleged federal agent with cash – either in person or by mail – or by purchasing gift cards and providing the alleged agents with the gift card numbers.

There also have been scams reported in which these same individuals pretend to be a relative of the victim who has been arrested or is in the hospital and in need of financial assistance.

No law enforcement agency will contact a resident via phone and try to get them to provide cash or gift cards in lieu of being arrested. Some of these scams are elaborate, and the La Salle Police Department is asking the public to be cautious of these types of scams.

Police are asking residents to educate elderly relatives, neighbors, etc., about these types of scams, as the elderly normally are targeted in these types of scams.

During a La Salle police detective division investigation, the department learned these individuals have been committing several scams throughout northern Illinois in the past few days, and police are asking residents to be vigilant.

Also, it is believed there were possibly more victims in the Illinois Valley area in October.

If you or someone you know was contacted or was a victim in one of these scams, whether it is in La Salle or not, call Detective Sgt. Brian Camenisch at 815-223-2131.