Cons and Scams Hit Brookfield

A number of telephone scams have been hitting Brookfield in recent weeks involving Publisher's Clearinghouse, AOL and more "grandson in jail" cons, according to police reports.

• One Chadburn Court apartment resident got a call July 28 purportedly from Publisher's Clearinghouse saying she had won a car.

The caller said she needed to go to Wal-Mart for a money order. Before doing so, she called police. Officers told her it's a scam and to ignore it. Police called the number on her machine and told the person who answered to stop calling the Brookfield woman.

• A Bonnie Lane man received an email from "AOL Help" saying his account would be deleted if he did not provide his user name, password, date of birth, occupation and country of residence. 

After that his email address was hacked and emails were sent to people in his email address book, saying he was in London, had been mugged and needed $1,750 wired to him. 

The man said some of his friends started calling him about the email and he believed no one wired any money to London. Police advised him to report the hacking to AOL.

• Two women called police after getting calls purportedly from their grandsons telling them they needed money wired overseas to bail them out of jail. Neither women fell for the scam, which Brookfield last week was going around. 

One Brookfield woman on July 25 drove to get the $3,000 requested be sent to the Dominican Republic but then got nervous and drove instead to the police department. She called her grandson, finding him in Waukesha and not in jail.

Another woman, living on Indian Ridge Drive, was told on July 28 to send $4,500 a bail bondsman in Mexico for her grandson, who supposedly as jailed in Illinois. This woman had heard of the scam and called Illinois police, who sent her to Brookfield police.

• On a twist on the scam, a Judith Lane woman got a call July 26 saying her granddaughter was arrested for drugs in Canada and needed $2,000 wired to Spain. The Brookfield woman called her daughter, who said the granddaughter was attending basic training in Missouri and had not been in Canada. No money was sent or lost.

Police warn residents to never wire money via Western Union if requested because once wired, it can never be recovered.