Wyckoff Man Scammed Out Of Nearly $1,000: Police

An 80-year-old Wyckoff man was scammed out of nearly $1,000 by someone who told the man he won $450,000 in a sweepstakes, police said.

The man received a phone call Wednesday that he won $450,000 in a sweepstakes, but had to mail a Green Dot money card with $954 on it to receive the money, said Chief Benjamin Fox.

The man placed the money on the card and mailed it to an address in Los Angeles, Fox said.

“When these scam artists think they have someone on the hook, they try for more,” Fox said.

The man received a phone call from a “Mr. Foster” who claimed to be from the Internal Revenue Service in Georgia saying that the resident won another sweepstakes, police said.

The caller said the resident had to pay $40,000 in taxes to receive his alleged money, Fox said. The resident realized that it was a scam and hung up.

Another Wyckoff resident received a call Thursday that his brother-in-law was being held hostage, Fox said.

The man was told he had to wire $934 to an unknown address to have his brother-in-law released, police reported. The man ended the phone call and contacted his brother-in-law to confirm he was safe.

“The callers prey on your sense of fear and urgency to compel you to act without fully thinking it through,” Fox said. “Anyone who is ever confronted with similar situations from someone who calls them on the phone should contact the police or a relative before taking any sort of financial action.”