Scammers Ensnare Westlake Resident

WESTLAKE, OH — A Westlake resident lost thousands of dollars in a phone scam this month, police announced.

On Dec. 12, a resident contact police and said she had been scammed out of a large sum of money. She said someone from "Social Security" had called her. The resident did not divulge any personal information during that call.

However, she later received a call from a "U.S. Marshal" who needed to clear up a warrant in the resident's name. The warrant was for money laundering and drug trafficking in Texas, the scammer said.

To "clear up" the warrant, the resident would need to send the fake Marshal money via Bitcoin and Walmart gift cards.

The resident sent the fake Marshal thousands of dollars.

Westlake police were later able to confirm that the scammers used a spoofed phone number, which appeared as a legitimate federal law enforcement agency number.