As the FBI released its 2024 Internet Crime Report last week, Lincoln County Sheriff's Office shared information with the Register about the amount, types and potential losses from fraudulent activity experienced by local residents. 

Crimes documented by LCSO in Maine's Incident Based Reporting system as "Fraud/False Pretenses" for 2024 show 29 cases with potential total losses of $452,356 for local residents. Losses from fraud are described as lotteries, grants and sweepstakes, internet sales, advance payment of contractors, false rentals, technical support and grandparent, romance or friend-in-need scams.

Detective Jared Mitkus said he is seeing "the full gamut of scams; some are cyber-related, others are cyber-involved and others are from phishing phone calls." Several of these fraud reports show Facebook Marketplace, Facebook Messenger and What'sApp used to communicate with victims.   

According to the LCSO 2024 numbers, scams with the highest losses for victims were those involving romance, family members, or acquaintances needing money for an emergency situation ($222,780). Technical support for computing devices was next ($94,300). Potential losses involving cryptocurrency were reported to be $55,000.  

The same report for 2023 shows $148,000 was potentially lost by area residents to romance and acquaintance scams. 

In some cases, Mitkus said the scammers are so brazen they send couriers to the victim's house to pick up the payment, showing up on foot so there is no vehicle to identify. "As fast as they come, they're gone," he explained. And with them go significant amounts of the victim's cash — in many cases, tens of thousands of dollars at a time, according to the reports.

"We're seeing a spike in grandparent/bail scams in the past two months," Mitkus said.

The LCSO report through the end of March 2025 shows total potential losses of $71,904 with $63,000 of the total from just two separate victims of grandparent scams, both of whom handed cash they thought was for bail to someone coming to their homes to collect it. 

Mitkus advised, "When you get a call from someone, if you believe it's real, call the person — the grandchild or someone else in the family to see if there really was an accident or a problem. Or just sit there for 10 minutes and think about it."

Scott Solorzano, LCSO's community resource deputy, agreed. "Just take a moment and call the person or their family," he advised. Solorzano and wife Mariaelana, who is with Cornerstone Financial in Waldoboro, provide a free presentation for groups concerned about scams. To schedule a presentation, contact him at ssolorzano@lincolnso.me 

Bob Pascal is a Boothbay Harbor resident and spent 12 years as a Maine bail commissioner. He said bail commissioners set bail and the conditions of release and receive their commission from the state. The Register asked him how the process works.

"Police arrest someone and take them to jail or to the police station where they are booked," he explained. The bail commissioner is called and bail and conditions of release are set. Money for the bail then needs to be delivered, Pascal continued. If the bail is set and it isn't met within two business days, the person being held goes before a judge who will set the bail. 

"But paperwork has to be done and forms signed before the person can be released if they are in jail. The system works pretty well," he added. 

Since scammers of grandparents often create a tale that the grandchild is being held somewhere out of state, we asked Pascal if he knows of any state in which bail would need to be handed to a courier coming to someone's home. "Not to my knowledge," he answered. "I can't imagine it."

Mitkus agreed. "You will never have a bail commissioner or law enforcement authority come to pick up cash." 

Mitkus explained, all LCSO patrol officers handle scams and those with higher amounts come to one of four detectives."In a lot of these cases," he said, "there is a tie to someone in the U.S., a money mule that is participating knowingly or unknowingly." In addition to collecting cash in person, funds are also collected via cryptocurrency or "crypto" gift cards. 

Investigations can take a lot of time and the Sheriff's Office partners with local and state police departments, Secret Service and FBI. If children are involved, it also works with ICAC. "You follow the money," Mitkus said. He said scammers also use Zelle, Venmo, Chime and online banks.

Mitkus emphasized it's important for people to report scams. LCSO documents these so it can spot trends because there may be a connection to other cases. One recently resolved case involved several criminals operating in Maine and other states. 

The 2024 FBI Internet Crime Report released last week showed losses of $16.6 billion due to internet crime, a 33% increase in U.S. cybercrime reported to IC3, the Internet Crime Complaint Center, over 2023.

In Maine, 2,137 IC3 complaints were received totaling $31,455,797. There were 429 cryptocurrency complaints from Mainers concerning losses totaling $17,137,660.

The FBI'S Internet Crime Report shows that both the number of complaints and the amounts lost per complaint for those over 60 years old have increased.  The same report shows 608 reports to IC3 from elderly Mainers, creating a total loss of $12,980,616 which was an average loss per complaint of $21,349. 

"Getting past the embarrassment of it is a huge hurdle," Mitkus said. "We've worked with victims of all ages but by far it's the elderly population that falls for these scams. We are the oldest county in the oldest state."

If you have been a victim of a scam or other crime, you are encouraged to report it to Lincoln County Sheriff's Office at 882-7332.