Missoula Police Recover Funds From Multi state Scam

Missoula police have been able to recover misappropriated funds from a scam that led from the state of Tennessee to New York, to the African country of Nigeria, and all the way back to Missoula.

Public Information Officer Travis Welsh said Detective Stacey Lear contacted a Missoula man who had unwittingly played a part in the scam after he began an internet relationship with a woman from Nigeria.

"Scam investigations are difficult at best," Welsh said. "The fact that we were able to return some people's money and keep a scam from spreading is always a good thing. Essentially, we had a complainant from Tennessee call and tell us that there was a local contact here in Missoula to the people that were stealing money from him. So, we made contact with that person who did not realize that he was part of a large scam. He cooperated fully with us and has gone to great lengths to help return some of the money to the victims."

Welsh said another victim has come forward from New York, and efforts are underway to return that money, as well.

"The victims place an ad on the internet to sell items, such as on Ebay and Craig's List and they are contacted by a person who says they are interested. This person then sends them a check for the amount of the item, plus several hundred dollars, along with instructions to wire the balance to the person here in Missoula. The complainant then discovers that the original check has bounced, and they're out the extra money they wired out. We were able to get that money back for them."

Welsh said the downside was that the local contact here in Missoula had started an online relationship with the woman from Nigeria, and ended up being used.

"This kind of thing is carried out all over the country," he said. "Typically, we're finding that most of it originates in foreign countries."