Crime & Safety
Scam Artists Target Avon Lake Residents
One thief pretended to be a woman's parish priest and asked her to give him eBay gift cards.
AVON LAKE, OH — Three Avon Lake residents were caught up in various scams this month. The ploys cost each resident money and police are investigating each case. The thefts are unrelated.
According to Avon Lake police, on Jan. 5, a 21-year-old Avon Lake resident sent $125 in gift cards to a person they met through an app called LiveMe.
The resident hoped they would receive $1,500 in cash, but that money never materialized.
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Then, on Jan. 7, a 60-year-old Avon Lake man checked his bank account and discovered someone had sent a collection of flowers, worth $200, using his money.
On Jan. 11, a 50-year-old Avon Lake woman got a text from someone claiming to be her parish priest. The "priest" asked her to send him an eBay gift card.
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The woman got him the gift card and then realized she had been ensnared in a fraud.
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