‘They’re professional, very sophisticated’: Bend restaurant falls victim to phone scam
(Update: Adding video, comments from the co-owner)
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- The co-owner of a popular Bend restaurant is warning other businesses about a scam that cost him hundreds of dollars.
The co-owner of Bangers and Brews Westside, Marcelo Garcia, said a worker got a call this week from someone claiming to be with law enforcement -- and claiming that the restaurant was about to be raided.
"They're professional, very sophisticated -- they know what they're doing. The phone calls that come in, they show the right numbers," Garcia said. "They know who owns the business. They know certain names -- they have my name."
An employee at the restaurant got the scam-related call Tuesday night from someone claiming to be with law enforcement.
"When the employee got the call at the restaurant, they hung up from the restaurant and called her on her cellphone -- (we're) not knowing how they got her cellphone number," Garcia said. "When they called her cellphone number when she was here, it was showing up as my phone number that was calling."
The caller claimed the place was about to be raided and demanded money.
Bend police told NewsChannel 21 the business reported that they’d received a call from a spoofed number of a person known to them, who claimed to be with the U.S. Marshals and demanded money.
The employee was told to get money out of the safe and go across the street to Safeway, and buy a couple of credit cards -- and had to read the credit cards off to them.
Garcia said he's gotten a scam call before.
"Before, I got a phone call pretending to be the power department, and they were going to shut us down and to send them money right away," he said.
"We want to make sure all our fellow businesses know, so they can catch it ahead of time. So, it doesn't happen to them," Garcia added.
The caller also told the employee they were watching her. Bend Police said if anyone is claiming to be with law enforcement or asking for money, don't send any, and make sure to reach out to your local police.
