Public safety report: Facebook Marketplace scam costs resident $1,200

A Facebook Marketplace scam involving a seemingly legitimate iPhone cost a Waltham resident $1,200 this week.

On Feb. 19, police responded to a residence on Main Street where a man alleged he had been the target of a scam. He intended to purchase an iPhone from a seller off of Facebook Marketplace. The man met up with the seller and paid $1,200 cash for the phone. Once he arrived home and began using the device, he noticed it wasn’t functioning properly. Upon bringing the phone to an Apple store location, the man was informed that it wasn’t a legitimate iPhone. Police are investigating this incident.

A summary of other police activity from Feb. 17 to Feb. 25 is as follows:

On Feb. 17 at 10:01 a.m., police responded to Panera Bread at 1030 Main St. Someone had called to report a vehicle with a swastika painted on its hood. Police could not locate a vehicle in the area that matched that description.

On Feb. 18 at 6:15 p.m., police responded to reports of lewd behavior on Clocktower Drive. Two women and two men were allegedly engaging in sexual acts while being filmed by a third man at a tennis court in the area. Police were called back to the location at 7:32 p.m. for a similar incident. Both times, police checked the area but didn’t locate anyone.

On Feb. 18 at 7:22 p.m., police responded to reports of a scam at a residence on Angleside Road. A woman at the residence said she had been approached via Whatsapp to participate in a ‘stock market mentorship’ with the scammer as the teacher. She was told that she would need to deposit money into the scammer’s account to participate in the program. Eventually, the woman decided that she wanted to withdraw her money but was told she needed to pay a $6,500 ‘profit tax’ before she could do so. At this point, she realized it was a scam. The incident is under investigation.

On Feb. 20 at 12:38 p.m., police responded to a larceny at the AT&T store on Main Street. The suspect was in the middle of completing a purchase with a staff member when a customer came in. The staff member became distracted by the customer, during which the suspect reached over the counter, took the phone he was in the middle of purchasing and left. The phone has not been recovered.

56 cars were towed due to the snow emergency on Feb. 22 and 23. No notable police activity took place on Feb. 21, Feb. 24 or Feb. 25.

All information was obtained from spokespeople with the Waltham Police department, the publicly available police blotter and police reports available at Waltham District Court.