Jefferson City police get hold of fake letter from chief
Jefferson City police are warning the public of a new scam that comes in the form of letters from the department’s chief.
Capt. Doug Shoemaker said the department was made aware of a letter sent to a victim that appeared to be from police Chief Roger Schroeder.
“While a close inspection of the letter reveals it to be fraudulent, many times victims fail to question scam attempts and accept them under the false pretenses they represent,” said Shoemaker. “We must ensure that our citizens take every precaution to protect themselves by considering any attempt from an unknown party to ask for money to be fraudulent at face value, and to further research requests through properly vetted sources.”
The text of the letter is largely copied from the city’s website for the department and even features the banner image from the top of the page.
The first paragraph of the letter, while rife with grammatical errors, advises the recipient to do business only with one specific entity.
Shoemaker said JCPD believes that the letter is an attempt to make an existing scam seem more legitimate.
The department said the investigation is continuing.
