The Springfield Police are issuing a warning about a scam that is targeting our business community. Scammers are calling employees at businesses impersonating a manager or owner and demanding immediate cash deposits into bitcoin machines or via gift cards.
The caller will say the issue has to do with the fire department and ask the employee to take a photo of the fire extinguisher and text it to them. Then the scammer has the employees phone number. At this point another phone number will begin to send text messages to the employee impersonating another manager/supervisor/owner.
Please teach your employees if they receive a call similar to this to immediately hang up the phone and contact their supervisor directly. They can also call the non-emergency number for the fire department (413-787-6302) to verify that this is not a valid request.
There is no reason ever that the fire department or any reputable business/agency will ever ask for or accept money via bitcoin or gift cards. This is a scam. We urge business owners to educate their employees on this scam so that they do not lose their money.
