Police chief warns area residents about online fraud
By Ken Powers Contributing Writer

Shrewsbury - With the amount of fraud cases nationwide on the rise, Shrewsbury Police Chief Jay Hester has issued a checklist to residents detailing ways individuals may attempt to access personal and financial information.

"Fraud scams are being circulated throughout the country, especially via the Internet, at an alarming rate," Hester said. "This is a list that was forwarded to us from the FBI that I thought was an excel lent way for town residents to review their own personal situation and get an idea about whether or not they could have been unknowingly involved in a fraud or if they are about to be scammed."

Hester said residents who can answer "yes" to any of the following questions should pay close attention in the upcoming days and weeks to their personal and financial information.

Is the check from an item you sold - such as a car, boat and jewelry - on the Internet?

Is the amount of the check more than the item's selling price?

Did you receive the check via an overnight delivery service?

Is the check connected to your communication with someone by e-mail?

Is the check drawn on a business or individual account that is different from the person buying your item or product?

Have you been informed that you were the winner of a lottery, such as the Canadian, Australian, El Gordo or El Mundo lotteries, that you did not enter? Or any other lottery that you did not enter?

Have you been instructed to either wire, send or ship money as soon as possible, to a large U.S. city or to another country such as Canada, England or Nigeria?

Are you receiving pay or a commission for facilitating money transfers through your bank accounts?

Did you respond to an e-mail requesting you to confirm, update or provide your account information?

Hester said if you can answer yes to any of these questions you should notify your local police department for further instruction.