Morris Township police and fellow Morris County authorities warn of a series of burglaries targeting the Asian community, and of a separate email scam:
Residential Burglaries at the homes of Asian Restaurant/Business Owners
Over the past five months, the owners of five Asian restaurants/businesses in Morris County have been victims of burglaries at their private residences.
In each of the incidents, entry was gained through the side or rear of the home and the entire house was ransacked.
In some cases, currency, safes, birth certificates, passports and other documents were removed and valuables were left behind. Prior to one of the burglaries, a business owner had their insurance card stolen from their vehicle while it was parked at their business. This also happened in a similar burglary outside Morris County.
These type burglaries are taking place all over the State of New Jersey and similar incidents have been reported in Pennsylvania and Delaware. The Morris County Sheriff’s Office, the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office and other Law Enforcement Agencies are coordinating their efforts to determine who is responsible for these crimes.
Until the suspects are apprehended, please take the below preventive measures to keep your home safe:
• Lock the windows and doors to your residence
• Do not hide spare keys outside your home
• Lock your vehicle
• Keep vehicle documents in your wallet and not your car
• Do not leave large amounts of currency in your home
• If possible, secure important documents (birth certificates, passports…) in a safe deposit box or other secure location
• If you have a home security system, make sure it is turned on and operational with Cloud based or off site storage capability
• Report any suspicious activity (vehicles, people) at work/home to local police
• Inform your family, friends and neighbors about these incidents and encourage them to report anything suspicious to local police.
Anyone with additional information or questions about these incidents can contact the Morris County Sheriff’s Trends and Analysis Team (MCSTAT) at 973-682-8711, mcstat@co.morris.nj.us, the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office Intelligence Unit at (973) 285-6300, intel@co.morris.nj.us or the Morris Township Police Department at (973) 539-0777.
The below information does not just involve businesses. There are scams for individual residents as well. Please take all requests for money via the mail, email or phone seriously and take every step possible to make sure they are legitimate. https://www.
Scam involving online bank transfers:
Please be aware that we have received reports of a scam involving wire transfers and online bank accounts.
Fraudsters target the CEO’s and CFO’s at various companies and gain access to their computers. They collect enough information to learn the types of billing the company uses, who the payees are and the average balances paid.
They then “spoof” a customer or, in other words, take their identity, and provide the company with wire transfer instructions to a fraudulent bank account.
What to do if you feel like your company has been targeted or are a victim of a fraud:
Check to make sure the email you receive from the escrow company is actually from them. The logo might be askew or missing or you might find misspellings in the body of the email.
Many savvy escrow companies will have a notice at the bottom warning customers about these crimes. If your email doesn’t have this warning it could be fraudulent. The most crucial key in identifying a fraud wire transfer email is its urgency.
Scammers will request the transaction be made “today.” The best way to verify that your escrow wire transfer transaction is legitimate is to pick up the phone and call the escrow company.
If you find out you or your company has been a victim of some sort of fraud please call the Morris Township Police Department non-emergency number at (973) 539-0777 and press “0” to speak with a dispatcher and have a patrol officer respond to your location within Morris Township.
The bias against Asians in our community is an on going issue and a outrage! Saddly, it’s happen in more than this one example. I am sad Happy the bias is getting press!