A Blairsville man has described Union County Sheriff’s Sgt. Bob Calamari as a “bulldog” after the dedicated local fraud investigator helped to recover $30,000 that was stolen from him in a car-trading scam.
The victim, who asked to remain anonymous for the purposes of this news article, posted a car for sale last month on a popular trading website. When he received a full-price offer, he was so eager to make the sale that he went outside the company’s recommendation for cash deals only.
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“I accepted a cashier’s check for the amount of my car, took it to the bank, and the bank indicated that it was a valid check,” the victim said.
To that point, everything had gone smoothly – until the “buyer” suddenly canceled the purchase citing the death of his wife and asked that the victim return the money.
“Since I had the money sitting there, I said, ‘Fine,’” the victim said. “The purchaser wanted a wire transfer back, and luckily, I declined that and (shipped) a cashier’s check to a selected party – he said it was his sister, but it certainly wasn’t his sister.”
The next day, the bank contacted the victim to inform him that the original check he had deposited was fraudulent, meaning the money that he thought he was returning to the scammer was actually his own money being stolen.
“As soon as the purchaser’s cashier’s check was found to be fraud, I knew I had to do something,” the victim said. “I started the journey at my bank, and they tried to trace my cashier’s check, because if it had not been cashed yet, they could cancel it.
“But by that time, my cashier’s check had been deposited in a credit union (in Utah). That same day, I went to the Union County Sheriff’s Office and met Sgt. Calamari, and he began to trace the path of the money.”
When Calamari got the case on April 24, he hit the ground running, and what he discovered was a strange set of circumstances. As it turned out, the scammer had the victim send the “return” check to a real woman living in Utah. Only, it wasn’t the scammer’s sister.
Calamari researched the woman’s information and called her up. She was a resident of Sandy City, Utah, and – come to find out – was the scammer’s wife. Five years ago, she had flown to marry him in Nigeria, where the scammer still resides after being denied entry to the U.S.
She told Calamari that she met her husband when he had attempted to scam her but was able to convert him to her church and reform his ways. She said that, to her knowledge, he had given up scamming people, and she denied being involved in this or any other scam.
The woman was completely cooperative with Calamari, providing documentation about her marriage when asked and admitting to receiving and depositing the check from the victim.
She gave Calamari the scammer’s real name – he had used a fake name alongside the fake check – saying her husband had told her the money was to help a friend’s online shoe business, and that she should deposit the check and spend some of it to pay her rent.
Calamari then called the credit union where the victim’s check was deposited. After looking into the situation, the credit union froze the woman’s account, creating the conditions to have the entire $30,000 amount returned to the victim.
The return was a little delayed, as the credit union cut a new check and mailed it to the out-of-state headquarters of the victim’s bank. Calamari stayed on top of things, following the money until it was finally in the victim’s account on May 15.
Though humbled by what has happened, the victim is overjoyed with Calamari’s success, crediting the sergeant’s unrelenting determination as the reason he was able to get his money back. He has even managed to make a legal sale of his car.
“As soon as you find yourself a victim of fraud, No. 1, contact your bank immediately,” the victim said as a warning to the public. “And No. 2, call the Union County Sheriff’s Office Fraud Department. They know what they’re doing.
“Sgt. Calamari went above and beyond, but I think he just did what he normally does, and that is, really work the case. He’s a bulldog … with his experience and persistence, that paved the way for me getting this all done. We’re very fortunate to have people like Sgt. Calamari around.”
In parting, the victim encouraged people to report when they’ve been defrauded out of their money and not be “so embarrassed that they don’t do anything.”
“Luckily, for some odd reason, I immediately went to my bank,” he said. “They began the process, and one of the things they said in the bank is, I have to go file a police report.
“And that wasn’t in my mind to do, but when I did, I got directed to Sgt. Calamari, and he really knew what to do after that and directed everything. So, people have to report fraud cases rather than be embarrassed and be quiet.”
Given that the crime occurred internationally at first, and then across the country, Calamari is unable to pursue an independent investigation of either the Nigerian citizen or the woman in Utah.
But he has been in touch with Sandy City law enforcement and has forwarded the case file to investigators there to see if they can find any evidence of the woman’s involvement in the scam.
“I’m just glad it worked out,” Calamari said. “We might not be able to arrest anybody, but as long as we can get victims their money back, that’s a win-win for us.”
Keep an eye out for upcoming Scam Awareness Classes, which Calamari and the Sheriff’s Office schedule multiple times a year to educate the public, hopefully so community members can spot scams in progress and avoid becoming victims.
