Larry Stewart vs. the 876 scammers

Larry Stewart vs. the 876 scammers

The call came is at 9:10 a.m. on a Monday. It was Aug. 8.

Larry Stewart, once named Charles City’s Man of the Year, founder of Stewart Realty, father of another Man of the Year and husband to a Woman of the Year — an all-around boisterous and strong supporter of the Charles City life — answered his cellphone.

“You are the winner of $5 million!” the man on the other end of the call said. “You must sent $825 by Western Union to receive the prize!”

Um. As fun as it would be to see Larry handed $5 million, it’s not going to happen. It’s a common scam, although this was the first time Larry had ever gotten such a call, and on this cellphone. Larry documented the next few hours and his experience with this man calling himself Peter Williams at 876-770-5824. He shared his log with the Press.

9:22 a.m. — Larry called City Hall with Police Chief Hugh Anderson. He was not available at the time.

9:33 a.m. — Peter Williams from 876-770-5824 called again. “Told him I was not interested,” Larry said.

9:30 a.m. —Larry called to his wife, Donna, and told her to lock the house.

10:47 a.m. — Larry went to City Hall with Donna to see the police chief.

10:57 a.m. — Larry called 876-770-5824 and Peter Williams answered. Larry told him he wanted him to speak with the chief of police. He spoke with Anderson, Trudy, Donna and Larry about winning. “He told us to go to Western Union and send the $865,” Larry said. “I stated that Western Union was in Mason City (and I was) not going.

“Peter Williams recommended we go to Hy-Vee and wire the $865 and they would then sent the $5 million to us by UPS!

“Chief Anderson said we would not sent the $865!”

11 a.m. — Donna and Larry left City Hall.

11:30 a.m. — Larry received a call from 876-770-5824 from Peter Williams and his manager, David.

11:50 a.m. —Donna and Larry drove to the courthouse and went to the Floyd County Sheriff’s Office. They spoke with Chief Deputy Jeff Crooks.

11:57 a.m. —Peter Williams called again from 876-770-5824. He asked whether Larry had sent the $865, yet. Larry told Peter that he wanted him to speak with the deputy sheriff. Peter did and repeated his request for them to go to the Hy-Vee and send the $865.

Crooks told Peter to not call the Stewarts again.

Donna and Larry left.

12:15 p.m. — Peter Williams calls the Stewarts again from 876700-1023, and asked if they had gone to the Hy-Vee and wired the $865. Larry said no, and they were not going to send the money. It was the last call they received.

“These scam artists are fearless.” Larry said. “(He) talked with Hugh Anderson! (He) talked with Jeff Crooks! He called back at 12:15 to see if we had sent the money.

“Now, does anyone feel Donna and I sould send the $865? Do any of you feel we would receive $5 million by UPS?”

Um .. no.

about calls from “876” numbers.

“The caller almost always wants either money or information,” the bureau says on its website, www.BBB.org. “Numbers with an 876 area code are foreign numbers that are subject to charges. Do not call an 876 number or provide any money or information to them. Area code 876 is the area code for Jamaica, and is one of the most common areas for telemarketing scams.”

The BBB has an interactive scam tracker on its site (www. bbb.org/scamtracker/us/). Yesterday, I punched “876” into the keyword search for the map. It pulled up 604 scams reported dated back to February. Granted, not everyone reports these calls.

An Aug. 10 entry from Ohio said: “I am receiving many phone calls. Caller claims to be with Publishers Clearing House. Phone number on my caller ID is 876-565-3274. Said I won $6 million. Wanted me to pay $800 by credit card to receive. I hang up on them and they continue to call. Cannot get them to stop calling. I know it is a scam and wanted to report the calls.”

Rolling down the list of scam reports, here is one from Hawaii in July: “I was called by someone stating that they were from ‘American Cash Award’ and they told me that I won $2.5 million but, I had to pay a fee from Western Union. I called my daughter and she said it was a scam.”

This was a report in Kansas in July: “Call from Publishers Clearing House saying I won a prize and I needed to call this (number) and talk to Betti Morgan ext. 5, the manager. Then go home to claim prize from Delivery Driver Tony Parker. The person that called me was pretending to be different people! Do I need to go home? Could they try to break in my house?”

On Aug. 8, an Ely parent reported that her 14-year-old daughter got a call from a U.S. Treasure Department imposter.

Also on Aug. 8, a Davenport resident reported a mystery shopper scam using the name P& R Industries Inc. A check is sent that you are told to cash and then buy prepaid cards. You then are told to send those cards and an evaluation of service and the product. “Check is counterfeit. Once bank finds out check is conterfeit, the mystery shopper is made to repay amount of check plus fees.”

On Aug. 4 an Emmetsburg resident reported: “They knew my name and last 4 of my Social Security number. Said loan was from Greenwood Hoden. Never heard of them.”

On July 19, a resident living northwest of Cedar Rapids reported this: “I got a phone call scam today and they said they are from the United States Treasury and they are an officer serving a warrant for arrest due to our unpaid taxes. Wanted to know my phone number and said we owe $3,985 …

“I told them I was going to call the IRS myself and I asked them if they are supposedly coming to arrest us what is my name … They didn’t have that information they just have my phone number.

“At the end of our conversation the foreign guy started swearing at me so I ended the call. I didn’t give them any of my personal information.”

Charles City Press Managing Editor Chris Baldus can be reached at 228-3211 or cbaldus@charlescitypress.com.

Chris Baldus

Managing Editor