Fall River police warn of 'bad money' scam: callers posing as officers tell people to withdraw cash for pickup
The department asked residents to hang up on these calls and to talk with parents, grandparents and older neighbors about the scheme.
FALL RIVER Fall River police are warning residents about a scam in which callers pose as law enforcement officers, federal investigators or bank fraud specialists, tell people their money is "bad" and then send someone to collect the cash.
The department issued the warning at 3:04 p.m. Friday, Nov. 6, under the heading "Scam alert: Beware of the 'bad money' scam!"
How the scam works
The callers claim a person's money is "compromised, counterfeit, or connected to criminal activity," the department said. They tell the person to take cash out of the bank or gather money kept at home, saying it has to be examined or secured as part of an investigation.
The scammers then arrange for someone posing as a law enforcement officer, investigator or courier to come and collect it, police said.
"Let us be clear: This is a scam!" the department wrote. "Police will never call you and demand that you withdraw or surrender your money."
Police said law enforcement will never send someone to a home to collect savings "for safekeeping or verification."
What police say to do
The department said the callers "can be extremely convincing." They may use official-sounding titles and fake the caller ID of real phone numbers, and they "create a false sense of urgency to pressure victims into cooperating," police said.
- Hang up right away if you get one of these calls.
- Do not withdraw money, set up a pickup or give out any financial information.
- Do not follow any instruction to keep the transaction secret.
The department asked residents to share the warning and to talk with parents, grandparents, older neighbors and loved ones about it. "A simple conversation could prevent someone from losing their life savings," police wrote.
"Remember: If someone tells you your money is 'bad' and needs to be picked up by law enforcement, it's a scam!" the department wrote.
What we do not know yet
The department did not say whether anyone in Fall River has lost money to this scheme or what prompted Friday's warning. South Coast 360 News will update this story with any word from police.
Label: Reported by us, from the Fall River Police Department.
Notes
Every fact in this story comes from the warning the Fall River Police Department posted on its official Facebook page at 3:04 p.m. Friday; quoted lines are word for word as posted, set in normal case where the post used all capitals. The steps in the list are the department's, put in plain words. The post does not say whether any Fall River resident has lost money, so this story does not say so.
Corrections
No corrections to this story. If something here is wrong, tell us. Every correction is dated on the story and listed in our public log.
Sources (1)
- City of Fall River Police Department, post on its official Facebook pageThe "bad money" scam warning: impersonated police, federal investigators and bank fraud specialists; money called bad, compromised, counterfeit or tied to crime; withdraw or gather cash; pickup by a fake officer, investigator or courier; police never call to demand money or send someone to collect savings; spoofed numbers and urgency; hang up, no withdrawal, no pickup, no financial information, no secrecy; share with parents, grandparents and older neighbors. Posted Fri. Nov. 6, 2026, 3:04 p.m. (time read from the post's timestamp); read in full by the agency pages watch in Chrome about 3:30 p.m. and reopened by the copy desk at 4:4x p.m.