The Delran Township Police Department is warning against scammers who seek payment through gift cards.
Police say sometimes these scammers will call residents pretending to be a law enforcement officer or investigator.
According to police, these scammers will sometimes claim to have a family member under arrest who needs another family members to send them bail money.
In these instances, scammers will then usually instruct victims to proceed to a store, such as a Walmart, CVS, Walgreens etc., and purchase gift cards.
The scammer will then call back and request the victim to provide the gift card number from the card.
The scammer then uses that information to deplete the money on the cards.
The scammer gets the money, while family members were never under arrest.
Police are reminding residents that most family information is available to the public via the internet, so scammers use this information to deceive victims into thinking they actually have custody of a family member.
In other instances of gift-card scams, police say scammers can cause a pop-up message to appear on a computer, with an accompanying contact number listed to fix a computer virus.
Again, scammers will request the information from gift cards in order to steal money.
Police are asking residents to communicate this information to their families and loved ones.
According to police, public awareness is the best way to combat these criminals, as many times the scammer is calling from another country.
For those who may feel they are the victim of a scam, contact the Delran Township Police Department at (856) 461-4444.
