Quakertown borough police are warning members of the public not to wire money to other countries or unknown persons, after they say a borough resident was nearly scammed by someone claiming to be a local choir director.
In a post on the department’s Crimewatch page Wednesday, police said the resident received a call Tuesday from a man who said he’s a choir director at a Quakertown church.
“The caller advised the resident that he had laryngitis and lost his voice, requesting that she send $895 to the Dominican Republic,” police said.
The man asked the resident go to the Giant supermarket in Quakertown and send the money via Western Union to a Luz Maria Fernandez Santiago, police said.
After the attempted transaction failed, police said a different man calling himself “David Montgomery” phoned and told the woman the choir director was unavailable, and provided her with a phone number with the area code 484.
“The caller also provided routing numbers so that the resident could wire the money,” police said.
“This is a scam,” authorities emphasized. “Do not wire money to other countries or people you don’t know. If you receive any suspicious phone calls requesting money be wired to an unknown person, call your local police department.”
