Tulsa Police Investigating Possible Extortion

Tulsa Police are investigating a possible extortion and they fear there may be more victims and want to get the word out. <br/><br/>News on 6 crime reporter Lori Fullbright explains how the scheme works.

Tuesday, October 3rd 2006, 12:09 pm

By: News On 6

Tulsa Police are investigating a possible extortion and they fear there may be more victims and want to get the word out.

News on 6 crime reporter Lori Fullbright explains how the scheme works.

The victim received a phone call Sunday night from someone claiming to be the police and demanding $500 in cash. The victim wrote down the name and number that showed up on their caller ID and I went to that address Tuesday, to see what's going on.

Jose' Perez is thankful Mr. Fuentes came to him after receiving a disturbing phone call Sunday night at 10. The person spoke in Spanish, said they were police and wanted $500 in cash delivered to an address on North Harvard the next day. "They told him if he didn't pay the $500, he would be put in jail for five years and eventually deported."

They also said if he didn't pay, the price would jump to $1,800. The reason the call sounded legitimate at all is because they knew Mr. Fuentes had been an accident recently. He had paid his tickets, but they said he owed more money still. Jose' Perez: "He was concerned and worried because he didn't have $500 so that was his main concern. He told me he already paid his tickets and didn't have to pay more."

They filed a Tulsa Police report and called the News on 6. They then gave the News on 6 the name and number that showed up in the caller ID and the address of the money drop off. We went there.

Lori Fullbright: "Somebody called from this house and said they were the police and wanted $500, know anything about that?"

Man: "No."

Lori Fullbright: "nobody from here has been calling Hispanics and telling them they owe money and bring it to this address?â€

Man: "No."

Lori Fullbright: "This is the name and phone number and that showed up on the caller ID, is this the phone number to this house?"

Man: "0468, yes, yes."

Lori Fullbright: "How did it end up in this guy's caller ID Sunday night I wonder?"

The News on 6 didn't get any answers, but no doubt, Tulsa Police will be asking even harder questions in the future.

Police encourage people to write down as much information as possible if they get a phone call like this. Obviously, don't pay it and do file a police report.

One thing officers will check is to see whether someone is getting accident reports as a way to find victims.