South Division Officer Eric Lo recently responded to a call for service from a woman who felt that she was being scammed out of money by a person representing himself as an Agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.   When Officer Lo responded, the woman and the scam artist were still on the telephone.  The woman stated that the scam artist was attempting to get money from her by promising her that he would cancel warrants that were about to be issued against her if she would pay him a designated amount of money.

Officer Lo picked up the phone to assume control of the situation and confront the scam artist.  Officer Lo identified himself to the scam artist and told him that the woman was not going to pay him any money and that he should leave her alone.  With that, the scam artists hung up on Officer Lo. 

Sergeants in the South Division followed up with the FBI and advised them of the situation.  Officers were able to determine that the call originated from a business located in Newark, NJ.  A background check on that business came back to several contact names, hundreds of civil suits and approximately 30-40 different web domain names.

Unfortunately, the story does not end here.  The scam artists are now using the name and code number of Officer Lo to contact people across the U.S. in order to scam them out of money using the same tactics; however, this time they have an actual Officer’s name and code number to use as collateral. 

If you have any information regarding this case or feel that you have been the victim of this scam, please e-mail Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department Detective Harris at mharris1@cmpd.org.