Lincoln Police say it’s a rare occurrence when they can make an arrest in cases where people are scammed out of money. They were able to do just that earlier this week. Public Information Manager Erika Thomas says on June 6, around 1:45 p.m. LPD responded to the report of a fraud in the area of S. 94th Bay and Andermatt Drive.
“A 78-year-old man had received an email saying he was charged $1,000 from his PayPal account, which he reported as fraudulent to the number in the email as he doesn’t have an account,” Thomas says. “While on the phone, the scammer refunded the victim $100,000 instead of $1,000 and then told him to return the money with gold to avoid paying taxes.”
Thomas says the victim then used the money to buy more than $98,000 in gold with a cashier’s check at a local shop, which was then picked up by a man in his 20s on June 5. “The suspect contacted the victim again on June 6 wanting him to purchase more gold.”
Thomas says the owner of the store then suspected a scam and called police. Police then worked with the victim to set up another pickup on Monday, June 9. “When the suspect arrived, officers arrested him as he was approaching the door,” Thomas says.
She says 29-year-old Chiragkumar Padsala from Riverside, California, is not believed to be the same scammer who picked up the first payment. Padsala is in the Lancaster
County Jail for theft by unlawful taking $5,000 or more.
(Photo: Lancaster County Deo. of Corrections)