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Crime & Safety

Police: Phone Scam Threatens 'Legal Action' If Money Not Paid

Target is Wescosville home; incident is second recent phone scam case in Lower Macungie.


Another phone scam attempt has struck a Lower Macungie home, this time threatening "serious legal action" and a police visit if money wasn't paid.

State police at Fogelsville say the scam attempt occurred around 1:20pm last Wednesday (Dec. 4) and the target was a home on the 5500 block of Stonecroft Lane in Wescosville. The "victim" was a 51-year-old woman, a state police fax says.

The caller requested that the woman pay "a sum of money" and if she did not, "she would face serious legal action and an officer coming to her house," the fax says.

The fax does not say if the woman paid any money, but notes that the incident "is consistent with nuermous phone scams occurring recently."

One of those occurred at another Lower Macungie home, where a caller asked for $2,000 and said a family member was in danger. The resident did not send any money.

But in another local incident, a 65-year-old Wilson resident did send money -- he wired $550 after being told his son would be shot.

Patch recently reported on the trend of phone scam attempts, noting that many of them demand money and threaten family members with violence. Some of the attempts have been traced to phone numbers in Puerto Rico, and the callers have been finding out about families through social media such as Facebook.



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