LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) – “It’s OK if you don’t believe. You can disconnect the line so I can go with the legal procedure. But once you’re going to get arrested, and once you’re going to lose each and everything. Then you cannot blame us that we have not tried to help you out.”
That’s pressure point. That was how “Acting Deputy Director of Customs and Border Protection Pete Flores” was going to wrestle a payment or personal information from this reporter. The problem? Here’s the real Flores in a press conference in El Paso three weeks ago:
“Well, Good morning everyone. I am pleased really to be here today, in El Paso for this event.”
The caller was a scam artist and part of what federal officials call a growing scam activity. The scammers call an unsuspecting person, identify themselves as someone whose name can be tracked on a website as a federal law enforcement agent and allege there is a warrant for their arrest for drug trafficking and money laundering.
Unfortunately for this scammer – the recipient of the call was a reporter who put the call on speaker and recorded the more than 41-minute call. The call audio was shared with Youssef Fawaz, a spokesman for the Detroit office of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. He called the interaction “wild” and “crazy.” And while he says his office is getting about one call or email a day about this particular type of scam, this was the first time he has heard the scam in a recording.