Two individuals were arrested Monday in Kiryas Joel, New York, after attempting to extort $13,500 from a haredi resident by falsely claiming there was a federal arrest warrant issued against him.
The incident is part of a troubling trend of scammers impersonating federal agents in order to defraud members of the local haredi community.
The victim received threatening phone calls from individuals posing as federal agents who claimed he was subject to an arrest warrant. The scammers offered to "settle" the matter in exchange for an immediate cash payment.
Instead of complying, the resident contacted the local Shomrim organization and coordinated with authorities to set up a sting operation.
Moshe Vitriol, head of public safety, organized the arrest operation in coordination with the New York Police Department. The resident prepared an envelope with fake money, and the suspects were apprehended when they arrived to collect the "ransom" near the intersection of Route 208 and Museum Village Road.
According to Vitriol, the case is part of a broader fraud network. A similar incident recently occurred in Williamsburg, where a haredi woman was scammed out of thousands of dollars. In that case, the funds were recovered and the suspect was arrested. Since launching a community awareness campaign, there has been a noticeable increase in reports from residents encountering suspicious activity.