In many cases, scams are usually rooted in the same few premises, with the scam artists just putting a few tweaks on things to keep them fresh and trick their victims.
This one was different.
On Friday morning, Tim Altomare, police chief for Anne Arundel County, was visibly angry and emotional about the arrest of a man said to be posing as a cop and defrauding immigrant business owners.
The accused scammer went to great lengths to try to legitimize himself in the community according to police. In the end, Altomare said a 鈥渢elltale sign鈥� made clear that what was happening wasn鈥檛 on the up and up.
鈥淵ou will never get asked for money by an Anne Arundel County policeman,鈥� Altomare said. 鈥淣o one will ever say to you 鈥榶ou need to do this to stay out of trouble.鈥� That鈥檚 not how we do business here.鈥�
It鈥檚 a message that Altomare stressed repeatedly at Friday鈥檚 news conference, especially since in these most recent cases, the targets were Hispanic business owners and cultural differences were being exploited in ways that the chief feared makes it harder to gain trust and keep people safe.
鈥淲e have too many pitfalls between us and the immigrant community already,鈥� said Altomare, who added that someone鈥檚 immigration status will never play a role in how the department will respond to those in need. 鈥淚 have too many people already afraid to come talk to me.鈥�
鈥淎 lot of folks in the [Latino] community are coming from places where police do take their money,鈥� the chief said. 鈥淭hat ain鈥檛 happening here 鈥� And if a cop does ask somebody for money, I have a problem that I have to fix.鈥�
The chief pointed out that a police officer will never legitimately demand payment for anything. Even when a fine is issued for things like speeding or parking infractions, the money is actually collected by a separate entity. Altomare called that a 鈥渢elltale鈥� sign that should tip someone off that they鈥檙e being scammed.
鈥淭he Anne Arundel County Police Department will never show up and ask for money, ever,鈥� Altomare said. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 even take fines, right? You鈥檝e got to pay other entities fines for a reason. Because police ain鈥檛 supposed to be taking money from people 鈥� So that鈥檚 a telltale.鈥�
Altomare said it鈥檚 appropriate to call 911 if someone claiming to be a police officer ever tries to collect money and suggests negative consequences if someone doesn’t comply.
