WEST SEATTLE CRIME WATCH: Prowlers; scam call

| Crime | West Seattle news

Two West Seattle Crime Watch reports tonight:

PROWLERS: From Steven in North Delridge:

A little bit before 1:30 am this morning (31 July) prowlers entered my property from the neighbor’s backyard. My decking contractor’s air compressor was stolen. They also surveyed the side and back yards, obviously looking for other items to steal. They also checked windows to see if they could easily gain entry into the house. This occurred on the west side of the 4800 block of 25th Ave SW. My CCTV system caught it all. The cameras are obvious, it is equally obvious they didn’t care about getting recorded.

Two males, one Black, the other unknown. The one with the blue hoodie, the word “EAGLE” is emblazoned across the top of the hood. Both were wearing work gloves. Non-hoodie one is wearing a baseball cap. Hoodie one is wearing a USA flag (red/white/blue) cloth face mask.

This is the second such event on this block within the past three weeks (that I know about). The first time the intruders also forced entry into the neighboring house. Fortunately the offenders decided to crash there for a while, the police were summoned and they were arrested. That house was (and still is) unoccupied, it just got sold and the new owners have not moved in yet.

A police report has been filed.

SCAM CALL: From WSCurmudgeon:

Today a bit after 2 PM, the following voice mail message was left on my mobile phone:

“… department is to inform you that there is a legal enforcement actions [sic] filed on your social security number for fraudulent activity. So when you get this message kindly call back at the earliest possible on [sic] our number before we begin with the legal proceedings. That is 833 972 ****. I repeat 833 972 ****. Thank you. ”

Versions of this scam have been around for years. You’ve mentioned these types of scams periodically, so thought you might want to do so again. The Social Security Administration (SSA) never initiates contact with recipients via phone regarding their benefits or problems with their accounts. A mailed notice always precedes any telephone contact.

I definitely did NOT call this number back. I reported this call to the Social Security Administration’s Office of the Inspector General. It’s easy to do online.

Hammer in hand August 1, 2020 (5:30 am)

I too receive a call yesterday from what appeared to be a local cell # 206-399-3707the vocal recording said my SS number had been suspended so to illegal activity in Texasand to push a dumb to continuethis smelled bad right from the startjust hang up, this is not how the SS folks handle this.

k August 1, 2020 (11:38 pm)

Please be aware that you likely just shared someone else’s personal phone number in your post. Phone scammers typically use spoofing apps to manipulate the phone number shown on caller ID. They purposely choose your local area code because it is more likely you will answer the call. It is highly unlikely that the phone number you published is actually the person who called you.

Cat Mom August 1, 2020 (6:30 am)

I have received a call like that last year, I did call them back and asked “Who are you trying to reach”? When they didn’t provide a name I said to them “Why don’t you get a real job and quit trying to scam people” I also informed them that I was going o report them.

M August 1, 2020 (6:46 am)

I use to get those SS scam calls all the time. Then I started to call them back and playing along, while not giving them my real social, of course. Eventually they catch on that you are wasting their time and hang up. So, I’d just keeping calling back, again and again. After a while they stopped answering my calls and stopped calling me.

Steve August 1, 2020 (7:37 am)

My mom got a call from the scammers and the guy said he worked for the FBI. That he would be contacting her in a couple of days to get a new SSN. She didn’t give any info out and reported to SSA. The guy even gave a fake badge #. Said her SSN was used to rent a car in Texas.

Mike August 1, 2020 (8:14 am)

Got the same type of robocall a couple of days ago, but from the IRS. Seems I could go to jail. Except they never say who they are talking about. The whole household I guess.

DAFFY August 1, 2020 (9:17 am)

Regarding scam calls … we’ve started getting the ‘City Light is going to disconnect your power in 30 minutes if you don’t pay your bill now’ calls again. Caller ID even displays what looks like a legitimate City Light phone number. Guess what … we hang up right away as should everybody. City Light doesn’t work this way any more than does Seattle Public Utilities, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, or the Internal Revenue Service.

D Del Rio August 1, 2020 (2:45 pm)

My friend who lives in Mountlake Terrace even got that Seattle City Light call. He hasn’t lived in Seattle in years. The ironic thing is that Snohomish County doesn’t have City Light for their utilities. I think all theirs is Puget Sound Energy.

WSlite August 1, 2020 (9:49 am)

For the prowlers image, I remember seeing 2 people with dark clothing and one of them wearing a distinct red/white striped face covering on Thursday night (July 30th) around/just after 9PM. I saw them walking northbound on the sidewalk on west side of the street along 4400 block of 26th Ave SW. I thought the other person (not wearing red/white striped covering) was a female though. If anyone has cameras in front of their houses along 4400 block of 26th Ave SW, check out your video footage from 7/30/2020 just after 9PM. Maybe see if you can get a better look at these folks and get photo of face. Sorry to hear Your items were stolen, hopefully these folks will be caught.

MosesBBB August 1, 2020 (10:31 am)

Well I just bought a handgun and took a few lessons and am great at close range. Also I am a night owl. So the prowlers better hope they do not pick my home to break into. I will be waiting for them.

Tsurly August 1, 2020 (1:50 pm)

Be sure not to kill one of your family members with that itchy trigger finger, which you are statistically more likely to do than a home invader.
- No body August 1, 2020 (5:43 pm)
  
  My 92 year old grandmother had a home invasion. Three men broke into her house at 3am. Tied her up with the telephone cord and went to the other bedroom where my aunt was sleeping and raped her. They then put bleach on and in her to hide the DNA. After that they tied her up with the other telephone cord. They ransacked the house for 3 hours while trying to open her safe. They loaded up my grandma’s jeep Cherokee and took off. The neighbor has video footage of “their” car. They were never caught. A gun would have been very useful in this situation.
  - Sad August 2, 2020 (4:17 am)
    
    I hope they are caught and get what they got coming to em. I hope your family is recovering from this horrifying event

dftl August 1, 2020 (11:08 am)

If only there were no police, and no jails, those two thieves wouldn’t need to steal other people’s property.

East Coast Cynic August 2, 2020 (12:20 am)

On the contrary, IMO, if there were no police and no jails, many criminals would be emboldened to steal even more property than they do now. Imagine if there was a 50 percent cut in the SPD and we lost the West Seattle Precinct! We would have break-ins and robberies morning, noon, and night. The criminals know that it would be a long drive from the South Seattle precinct to respond to West Seattle calls, which would allow them to potentially get away with whatever they wanted to do with limited to no response. It would be like rodents getting into an unlocked door to the cheese factory.

HS August 1, 2020 (12:18 pm)

I’m a bit relieved to read that others are getting the scam calls too. I’ve been receiving the IRS scam calls for about 6 months and more recently scam SS calls. They’re usually different numbers and all mention jail time. I’ve reported what I could. Periodically, I receive odd calls with a voice mail entirely in Chinese. Oh and the all too frequent friend requests from single military men on Instagram (also scams). Fun times, people.

WS Longtimer August 1, 2020 (9:00 pm)

1) @ No body…I hope the police are investigating this horrific event for your family! 2). @HS..We get these calls too entirely in foreign language. Plus the others claiming to bring legal action, threats, etc. All bogus! Just ignore.3). Extreme speeding!! On residential streets for last 3-4 months. I see consistently a red 4 door sedan type and then a blue sedan at least 80- 100 mph on 25 mph. At times I have came across them spinning in circles at very high speeds, very erratic. This is so scary on the road. I worry about walking, animals, pets, drivers. They go so fast I can’t get a plate. I can hear them all around the neighborhood throughout the night. Im sure these young punks are terrorizing other neighborhoods and I hope we all keep reporting to police, because someone or animal will suffer. I already spent 3K saving my cat hit by car at high speeds, he is not the same. I hope everyone takes time to report to get these dangerous drivers caught.

KM August 1, 2020 (10:51 pm)

We need unbiased camera enforcement. Unfortunately there’s no way for police to track down these people in the act unless they happen to be right there and decide to do something about it. I experience aggressive driving nearly every day here, and I’m sick of it too.

Sorry, comment time is over.