Westlake, Ohio – On April 4 at 1:30 p.m., a convenience store owner reported a suspicious older man depositing large sums of money into a cryptocurrency ATM in the store. The man was receiving instructions on his cell phone, and the store owner suspected he was being scammed.
Thankfully, police officers arrived just in time to stop the transaction before the funds were transferred to the scammers. The man had received a pop-up message on his home computer, falsely claiming that his system was compromised and he would be implicated in criminal activity if he did not pay for cleanup. This serves as a reminder for residents to be cautious of scammers using pop-up messages, emails, texts, or phone calls to demand payment in gift cards, cryptocurrency, or cash withdrawals.
In a separate incident on April 4, a vehicle with a driver and one passenger fled from police on I-90. The pursuit was called off for safety reasons, but the passenger later called the Westlake Police Department and provided the identity of the driver. The driver was wanted on warrants from Strongsville and Trumbull County. When officers attempted to arrest the suspect at his workplace, he did not show up. However, he turned himself in later that day and was charged with felony failure to comply and driving under suspension.
On April 5 at 4 a.m., officers stopped a vehicle on Columbia Road at Detroit Road after discovering that the registered owner was wanted by Cleveland police for failing to appear for a traffic offense. The 38-year-old Cleveland resident was arrested and turned over to Cleveland officers.
The passenger, a 39-year-old Cleveland woman, was also wanted on warrants from Parma and North Olmsted for not appearing for traffic offenses. She was arrested and turned over to North Olmsted police.
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