Barrington residents call police to report attempted scams

Bogus SBA loan listed Waterway home as a commercial farm

Posted 2/11/21

Barrington residents filed numerous complaints with local police last week regarding a variety of attempted scams. Following is a list of the reports:

• An Echo Drive resident called police …

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Barrington residents call police to report attempted scams

Bogus SBA loan listed Waterway home as a commercial farm

Posted

Barrington residents filed numerous complaints with local police last week regarding a variety of attempted scams. Following is a list of the reports:

• An Echo Drive resident called police on Monday, Feb. 1 regarding a scam. The resident received a text from someone claiming to be from Citizens Bank and instructing her to click on the link provided in the text. She did so, and later provided her account information. She then called her bank and learned the text was a scam. She closed her old bank account.

• Police spoke with a Seabrook Court resident who said he had received an apparent crank phone call on Monday, Feb. 1. The resident said the caller told him there would be a charge to his credit card. The resident did not notice a charge to the account. Police called the number from the crank call, but no one answered.

• A Howard Street resident told police he received numerous text messages from an unknown number, including one that said the resident’s family was going to be harmed. Police believe the texts are part of a scam.

• A Henry Drive resident called police on Tuesday, Feb. 2 to report a PayPal scam. The resident said she received an email from someone claiming to be from PayPal and alleging a fraudulent charge made to the resident’s account. The caller asked for the resident’s bank account information. The resident provided the information, but later called her bank and closed the account.

• A former Barrington resident told police she believes her personal information may have been compromised and that someone has opened fraudulent accounts using her information.

• A Waterway resident filed a report with police on Thursday, Feb. 4, after discovering that someone had taken out an SBA loan in her name and listing her address. In the loan, the Waterway residence was referred to as a farm. The home is not a farm.

• A resident called police on Sunday, Feb. 7 about a situation involving his mother-in-law, who lives in East Providence. The resident said a man had called his mother-in-law and offered to sign her up for free solar panels. The resident said he was worried the call may have been part of scam.

• A Barrington resident called the Barrington Times on Thursday, Feb. 11, to report that she had received a call from someone claiming that her Amazon account had been compromised and that someone had made a fraudulent purchase against her account. The resident recognized the call as a scam, but wanted other residents to be aware of the calls.

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A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.