HOLLAND TOWNSHIP,Mich. — The Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a fraud case that occurred on August 6, 2013 in Holland Township. The victim in this case owns an Asian restaurant. The scam works like this. The victim received a call from a man identifying himself to be from “the electric” company, and that the victim owed a large sum of money or his electric would be shut off.
The victim was then instructed to purchase Green Dot Money Pak cards and load them with money. The suspect asked the victim for the PIN numbers for the cards and the money was then transferred. After completing this transaction the victim contacted the Holland Department of Public Works (DPW), who supplies electric to this victim, and he found that he in did not owe money and he had been de-frauded.
In speaking with area public utilities, it appears as though this type of fraud had been attempted several times over the last three months to both businesses and residences. It is unknown how many times money has actually been obtained by the suspect. In this most recent case, the victim lost approximately $1,500.00
It does appear that the suspects are targeting the ethnic communities and businesses that may have limited English-speaking abilities. Investigators are following leads from this recent case that will likely lead to suspects out-of-state.
If you have any information related to this please call Silent Observer at 1-877-88-SILENT ormosotips.com
