Financial scams on the rise, Pittsburgh police warn

Financial scams are on the rise.

In the latest scam, police tell Channel 11 a business owner in the city was contacted by someone claiming to be from Publisher’s Clearing House about claiming a prize.

The victim sent $125,000 using cashier’s checks before calling 911 when he realized it was a hoax.

In another case, police tell us the victim was tricked into taking out $28,000 and converting the cash into cryptocurrency using Coinstar machines.

Police say many of these scammers are operating outside of the country, which makes arrests difficult.

To avoid being cheated out of your money, police advise:

• If a phone call seems unusual, hang up immediately.
• Never give personal or private account information over the phone, email or text to unknown people.
• Don’t click on unsolicited emails or text messages where the sender is not familiar to you.

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