Rehoboth Police Warn Residents of Recent Phone Scams

Rehoboth Beach Police recently received complaints about two separate phone related scams.  The first phone scam involved a person identifying himself as Officer MacDonald from the Atlanta Detention Center calling from the number 1-888-424-5279.  The caller advised that bail money needed to be sent for their grandson who was incarcerated in the center.   The caller did not know the name of the grandson and the resident quickly realized this was a scam and hung up.  It was determined through an investigation that the party was not calling from the Atlanta Detention Center and was attempting to scam the receiving party out of money.  The second phone scam involved a party calling identifying themselves as Robin Matthews from the U.S. Treasury Department who provided a reference case number.  The party attempted to scam the resident out of money advising that they would send an agent to their house if the money was not paid.  The resident realized it was a scam and notified police immediately.

Rehoboth Beach Police remind residents to be aware of these type and similar types of scams and to never provide these type of callers any financial or personal information.  Another popular type of phone scam is to have the victim purchase gift cards for payment of various utility services and provide the numbers to the scammer.  Anyone living within the City of Rehoboth Beach with additional information is asked to contact Det. Tyler Whitman at (302) 227-2577.  Residents living outside the City of Rehoboth Beach would contact their local police department.