NAMPA, ID — Nampa Police is urging the public to be wary of scams after a Nampa man was found to be connected to a nationwide scam via UPS.
According to police, a Nampa UPS store was notified that a resident in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma was trying to stop a shipment she’d sent to a resident in Nampa. She had been targeted by online scammers who convinced her they were government officials, that her computer had been hacked and that it was now associated with child porn and credit card fraud.
The victim was persuaded to send money to a man in Nampa to verify that her funds and assets were not tied to illegal activity. As instructed, she got a cashier’s check for $230,000 and sent it to a Nampa man via UPS.
After sending the check, the victim was having second thoughts and called UPS to attempt to stop the cross-country delivery, according to police. When the Nampa UPS staff heard about the situation, they called Nampa Police and an officer responded to help stop the delivery and talk to the man the package was going to.
The Nampa man was identified as a money mule, or a person who either knowingly or unknowingly assists scammers with moving money. Detectives were able to seize around $60,000 of additional funds from the Nampa man that he had gained from this scam, making a grand total of around $290,000 in recovered funds.
Through further investigation, the Nampa man was connected to a nationwide scam with potential victims all over the country. The investigation is ongoing.
