MASON CITY – The Cerro Gordo County Sheriff’s Department described a phone scam that seems to have a cost a Rockwell resident $5,000.
According to a sheriff’s report, a subject called a Rockwell resident on January 4th and identified himself as David Sawyer. According to the report, the caller told the victim that “she had won a new Mercedes Benz and 5 million dollars.”
The report went on to say that “after telling her all the good things she could do with the money, he stated that he only needed her (the victim) to buy a “Greendot” card at Wal-Mart for a $1,000 and give him the card number.”
Apparently, according to the report, the victim, who was not named, followed through with the caller’s request.
“This being done, (the) subject asked for another $1,000 dollars and police were called by (the) victim.”
The report indicates that Rockwell police and Cerro Gordo County Sheriffs worked together to investigate the matter.
Authorities said that they “contacted GREENDOT, and was informed that the money had been transfered to a sister company BUYRIGHT PREPAID CARD, and stated that they have no contact info for the company but Buyright has a web site. The Web site (was) checked and no contact info is listed. The numbers called from on caller id were 347-732-9787 and 347-368-6987. The number the victim was to call back on was 1-876-504-7329.”
The report indicates that when authorities called, there was no answer at any of the listed numbers.
