A Belle Mead resident lost $6,000 in a scam via an email allegedly from PayPal that was reported on April 9, according to the Montgomery Township Police Department.
The victim reported receiving an email from someone claiming to be from PayPal, indicating that an unknown person was trying to buy an Apple iPhone by using the victim’s account, police said.
The victim called the phone number listed on the email and spoke to an individual who convinced the victim to help catch the person who was trying to buy the iPhone.
The individual told the victim to buy two gift cards and to complete a Bitcoin transaction. The victim became suspicious after completing the transactions.
The victim realized it was a scam after contacting PayPal, which stated it had never sent the email to the victim, police said.’