While details are scant, the Bonners Ferry Police Department is sounding the alarm to local businesses of a recent telephone scam with a different twist that could have emptied the till just in time for Christmas. In most such scams, the scammer attempts to swindle the business owner. In this one, he said he was the owner. An employee answered the “owner’s” call and was directed to wire a substantial sum to a bank account and convert some more money to crypto currency and deliver it personally.
They didn’t say if the employee complied or saw through the scam, but Bonners Ferry Police do recommend that all business employees be made aware that scammers are always lurking and the only real defense is knowing they’re there and being skeptical of any odd request, especially when you can’t positively identify who it is making the demand.
Those receiving such suspicious calls should not only not comply with any demands made, but should also be stingy about giving out any personal or business information unless and until you are certain the caller is who they say they are.
Instead of staying on the line, suggest they come in to the business in person, or allow you to hang up and call them back at a contact number on file. If you’re an employee still in doubt, take as much information as you can glean over the course of the call, hang up and notify a supervisor.
If it was the boss, he or she might be temporarily irate, but the till would still be intact instead of lining the pocket of an unknown stranger out to steal the fruits earned from the sweat off someone else’s brow.