A warrant is still out for a conman who calls himself “Commander Hook from the Dane County Sheriff’s Department Montello Unit,” Madison police said in a Monday incident report.
The suspect scammed a 69-year-old woman out of more than $1000 in a phone call Sunday, according to Madison Police Department Public Information Officer Joel DeSpain. When calling back to demand more money from the victim, “Hook” ended up on the phone with an MPD officer who was responding to the house call.
DeSpain said that the conman “boasted” to the MPD officer that he is part of a multimillion dollar phone scam that can’t be traced by law enforcement. He also told the officer that he and his co-conspirators weren’t afraid and planned to continue scamming others.
Before the MPD officer arrived, the conman had already convinced the woman to wire $1,500 to a Georgia address by telling her she would be arrested for failing to attend jury duty if she did not post “cash bail.”
Local law enforcement’s ability to track suspects in phone scam cases is limited because they are usually run out-of-state or overseas, DeSpain said.
“What we can do is share information with our federal partners,” DeSpain explained. “We can also continue to make sure the public is aware of such activity, as we all need to look out for those who might be vulnerable to similar criminal enterprises.”
