Newtown Township Police Chief Rick Pasqualini has a warning for residents: hang up on unsolicited phone calls when the person on the other end is asking for money.
The chief’s warning came at last month’s Board of Supervisors meeting after a number of scam calls were reported by Newtown residents.
Pasqualini said one woman walked into the police station last month and said she wired $65,000 to an unknown person who called her.
“It’s like shadowboxing, once the money is one, it is gone,” the chief said.
Newtown residents’ aren’t alone. Communities throughout Bucks County have been hit hard this year by scam callers.
Bucks County Department of Consumer Protection Director Michael Bannon said in January that his office received more than 200 complaints about the IRS phone scam in just one day.
The rise in the IRS phone scam in our area is due to the ease of robocall systems that allow scammers around the world to hit an area code in a short amount of time. Bannon said the scam works and consumers in Bucks County have lost an untold amount of money.
“I tell people to hang up. Unsolicited phone calls, once they get a hook in you … they go in for the kill,” Pasqualini said.
The chief reminded residents to contact police with any concerns.
