Waite Park Police Issue Scam Warning

WAITE PARK (WJON News) — The Waite Park Police Department is warning residents about two scams they have been seeing recently. The first scam involves getting a call from a phone number that says it is the Waite Park Police Department.

The caller will tell you there is a warrant out for you, and someone will come to arrest you if you don’t pay. The second scam involves getting a letter with a check in the mail. The letter will say the money is to be spent wrapping your car with advertisements or buying gift cards as a secret shopper.

Waite Park Police’s Alicia Mages says the scammer can’t find you so it is safe to ignore them even if they seem threatening:

“Most of the time they’re not anywhere around you, they’re not even in this country. They don’t know where you are, where you actually live, or even if they do they’re not going to come because they’re not anywhere near here, and they’re just gonna hang up the phone and move on to the next person to try and find anyone who will fall for it and send them money, and unfortunately it works for them. That’s why they keep doing it.”

Mages says you should always be careful when you get a phone call asking for money or personal information, and to never cash a check you receive in the mail that you were not expecting. She says it is okay to hang up on the caller or ignore the call, and if it sounds too good to be true it probably is.