Belmont Police Log, Aug. 28-31: Illegal dumping, Xfinity scam, bicycle theft and vandalism
The following are excerpts from the Belmont Police log as made available by the Belmont Police Department. The log is public and available for review. All persons are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law.
Monday, Aug. 28
8:53 a.m.: Resident of Oliver Road reported illegal dumping. The inside of a dumpster contained numerous trash bags and electronic items that were not his. He believes it happened overnight. There was a box in the dumpster belonging to a woman with an address out of Boston. He asked neighbors if they have seen or heard anything. Officers said they would attempt to make contact with the woman in Boston. A short time later, the home owner said he discovered who dumped the bags and the person is removing them.
9:48 a.m.: A Channing Road resident reported illegal dumping. A neighbor across the street dumped trash into his trash barrel. He knows it was his neighbors because there was an overflowing dumpster bag in his neighbor’s driveway containing the same material that he found in his trash. Officers spoke to the neighbor who said he did throw some remaining debris into his neighbor’s barrel because he did not have space in his own barrel or dumpster bag. Officers said he could not use his neighbor’s trash barrel to dispose of his trash. Officers told the resident his neighbor apologized and said he would not do it again.
1:41 p.m.: A Leicester Road resident reported fraud. Her mother called Xfinity to pay her bill. The number she called was 855-391-0043. The male party, who answered the phone told her to dial extension 720. A man named Frank answered and requested her to purchase two Target gift cards in the amount of $390 each to pay her Xfinity bill. She googled the phone number and learned it was linked to a known Xfinity bill payment scam. The mother did not purchase the gift cards.
9:08 p.m.: Collision in area of Common Street and Concord Avenue between an unknown, older, gray Toyota mini and a Belmont male bicyclist. The bicyclist was uninjured but fell off his bicycle on his left arm. He had minor scratches on his left leg. There was damage to his front wheel, front brake and handlebars. Belmont Fire responded. He was traveling Westbound on Concord Avenue when he approached the intersection of Common Street, which is when he was struck. It appeared to be a gray, older Toyota minivan. The vehicle did not stop and took a left through the tunnel and proceeded up Concord Avenue. A passenger yelled out the window, “Hey, watch out,” before he was struck. He struck the right rear side of the minivan. Officers searched the area and were unable to locate the vehicle.
Tuesday, Aug. 29
11:34 a.m.: A Palfrey Road resident reported fraud. On Aug. 28th, approximately 3:30 p.m., he was contacted by a man identifying himself as an Xfinity customer service representative. The number on his caller id was an Xfinity number he recognized, He said it sounded like a call center. The representative spoke with an Indian accident. He said there was potential hacking on his internet modem. He then instructed him to download an application onto his computer and phone to allow the Xfinity rep to gain access to the laptop and phone. Once he granted access, messages were displayed on his computer that listed the hacking breaches, including claiming there were pornographic videos and child pornography on his computer. The representative instructed him to download the cash app and link his Bank of America to it to confirm Bitcoin transactions. The representative said a $2,000 fee was placed onto his Xfinity account. To credit the fee, he would need to pay Xfinity with gift cards. The man went to Target and purchased four gift cards worth $450 each. The representative instructed him to send photos of the gift cards via text message. He then told him the gift cards were not valid and he would have to purchase four more gift cards to which he did. He then received a text message stating he had a tech appointment scheduled with Xfinity to finish the diagnosis of his computer and modem. At this point, the representative asked him to send a dummy transaction via Venmo to which he refused. At this time, he began to become skeptical of everything that happened and ended the phone call with the representative. The representative said he would call back the next day to complete the diagnosis. He did not speak to him again but was made aware of an attempted debit withdrawal of $498 in Detroit that Bank of America declined. He cancelled his debit card. He also notified his other financial institutions, informing them of the potential fraud and asking them to monitor his accounts. He also filed a fraud report with Target to attempt to recover the money lost from the gift cards, but he was not able to do so. The phone numbers that contacted him were 856-942-9031 and 800-266-2278.
Warning to residents: Beware of any calls from Xfinity – if you receive any call from someone claiming there is a problem with your computer or account, hang up and call the number on your bill or from their actual website and beware Google searches sometimes show fraudulent phone numbers first.
12:03 p.m.: A Belmont Street resident reported larceny of a bicycle, a black Trek, valued at $700. She recently moved to Belmont Street. On Aug. 26th, her Trek bicycle was taken from her front porch. She last saw it at 9 a.m. and realized it was missing at 4 p.m. It was not locked.
2:21 p.m.: A Beech Street resident reported attempted identity fraud. She was alerted by her credit monitoring company on Friday, Aug. 25 that there was a Chase credit card attempted to be open in her name. On Aug. 27th, she contacted Chase bank and reported this fraudulent attempt. Chase cancelled the attempt. She checked her credit monitoring account and noticed there were four total attempts of opening credit in her name from Discover Home Equity loan, Discover credit card, Chase credit and Bank of America car loan. She contacted all the companies and reported these accounts were not opened by her. All the accounts were denied and closed by the companies. She suspected her social security number was compromised and contacted the social security administration and is filing a fraud report for them. She was advised to continue monitoring her credit accounts and to report future activity she believes to be fraudulent.
4:31 p.m.: A 2003 Toyota operated by a Lexington woman collided into a pole in the area of 857 Concord Ave. When officers arrived, the operator was standing on the side of the road. She informed officers she was ok but hit her head, there was a cut on her nose and her right leg was sore. Belmont Fire and Rescue responded. She was travelling Eastbound on Concord Avenue. She had a coffee in her hand. Looked down for a second when she hit the utility pole. Her vehicle tends to pull to the right when she drives it. Belmont Light did not observe any significant damage to the pole. The Toyota had heavy front end damage, the front airbags were deployed and there was undercarriage damage. The vehicle was towed and the operator was transported to Mount Auburn Hospital.
Wednesday, Aug. 30
7 a.m.: Collision in area of Park Avenue and Rutledge Road between a 2023 Subaru operated by a Harvard woman and a 2019 Ford operated by a Revere man. The operator of the Subaru was uninjured. The operator of the Ford had blood on his arm. Belmont Fire and Rescue responded. The operator of the Ford was attempting to turn onto Park Avenue from Rutledge Road. He did not see the Subaru. The operator of the Subaru said she was unable to stop in time when she saw the Ford in front of her. The Ford came onto Park Avenue from the wrong lane of Rutledge Road which was coned off. A witness travelling behind the Subaru said the Ford entered from the coned off segment. The operator of the ford declined further medical attention. The Ford was towed from the scene. The operator of the Ford was issued a citation for failure to stop/yield.
Thursday, Aug. 31
7:56 a.m.: Collision in area of Brighton and Pleasant Streets between a 2010 Honda operated by a New York man and a 2019 Toyota operated by an Arlington woman. The operator of the Honda was travelling Eastbound on Pleasant Street. He had a solid green light as he drove through the intersection and without warning he was struck on the passenger side of his vehicle as he passed Brighton Street. The operator of the Toyota was stopped at the red light He looked both ways. Without warning, he struck a vehicle in traffic. It was travelling at a high rate of speed. The operator of the Toyota was issued a citation for failure to yield at an intersection.
3:38 p.m.: An Oak Avenue resident reported vandalism to a motor vehicle, a 2017 Toyota. The rear window was shattered. Officers could not find any mechanism that would have caused damage to the window. The owner was contacting her insurance company.
6:23 p.m.: A Maple Terrace resident reported damage to a motor vehicle. He was parked on Concord Avenue in front of Harris field in a handicap spot, 2021 Toyota. He was watching the marching back play from 5:15 to 6:15 p.m. He observed scratch marks on the driver’s side of his car and his driver’s side mirror was pushed backwards. He believes it might have been done by a bicyclist because of the new configuration of the road.
Between Aug. 28 and Aug. 31 Belmont Police responded to one domestic violence incident and seven mental health incidents.
Arrest
A Watertown man, 61, arrested for operating under the influence of liquor on Aug. 30 at 4:18 p.m.