Public safety report: Scams cost Waltham residents thousands of dollars

A group of unrelated scams resulted in Waltham residents losing thousands of dollars earlier this month.

The first report came in on July 7 at 6:08 p.m., with police responding to someone calling from a Central Street address. The caller had responded to an ad for an apartment on TikTok, eventually making two payments via Zelle and WhatsApp to rent the apartment. The caller eventually realized it was a scam and there was no apartment. Police are investigating.

On July 9 at 4:06 p.m., police responded to another report of a scam. A Cooper Street resident had received a notice on his computer that his computer had a virus and he needed to call the provided number to resolve it. The man provided the personal information that was asked of him, resulting in $55,000 being taken from his bank account. He realized it was a scam and wanted the police to document it, but did not want further help.

On July 10 at 1:56 p.m., police responded to a scam reported by a Willow Street resident. The resident had received a message from Apple saying her account had been compromised. She contacted the number provided and shared her bank information believing that would resolve the issue. The scammer removed $7,000 from her bank account. Police are investigating the incident.

On July 11 at 4:08 p.m., police responded to a call from a College Farm Road resident also reporting a scam. The resident had received a text message about a charge on his credit card. After replying to the text message, he received a series of phone calls. Eventually he gave the person on the other end of the line his bank account information. The scammer removed $25,000 out of the man’s account. Police are investigating the incident.

A summary of additional police and fire activity from July 8 to July 14 is as follows:

On July 8 at 3:51 p.m., police responded to Clematis Avenue, where someone reported a man going door-to-door claiming to be a city inspector. After confirming with Waltham city officials that there wasn’t anyone doing inspections, police were able to locate a man and confirm that it was a misunderstanding. The man was sent on his way.

On July 9 at 1:02 p.m., police responded to Waltham Crossings at 126 Smith St. The call came from a staff member who reported that a resident had almost fallen victim to a scam, noting that he was able to intervene and thereby prevent it from happening. The staff member wanted to document the incident.

On July 9 at 2:03 p.m., fire crews responded to a residence on Cross Street. Upon arrival, they saw flames coming from the building. The fire seemed to be emanating from the first-floor deck and had extended into the first floor. All residents who were home made it out safely. Crews were able to extinguish the fire, ventilate the building and check to ensure the fire had not spread.

On July 9 at 7:48 p.m., an officer allegedly witnessed a man urinating onto the Circle of Remembrance veterans memorial. Hermelindo Munoz-Ramierez, 49, of Waltham, was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct and vandalizing a veterans memorial.

On July 13 at 9:24 a.m., fire crews responded to a residence on Newton Street. Upon arrival, crews discovered that a fire had begun on a stovetop inside the building and extended to the kitchen cabinets. All residents made it out of the building safely. Firefighters extinguished the fire and ventilated the building. The cause of the fire was determined to be an unattended cooking fire.

On July 14 at 11:01 p.m., police responded to reports of a fight on Bacon Street. The caller reported seeing two people get out of a car and begin physically beating each other up. Officers were able to locate two men who, according to the police report,  turned out to be friends arm wrestling.

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