Trending
Most of the crime my department investigates begins and ends in Lycoming County. A break-in has a point of entry. A stolen car has plates or a VIN. A hit-and-run has a driver who can be found with enough legwork. That's the rhythm of local policing -- follow the evidence, identify the suspect, and bring accountability home.
But a crime involving one of our residents a few months ago didn't fit that pattern.
A caller claimed to be from the Lycoming Regional Police Department. He told a resident he had missed jury duty and now had a warrant. To clear it, he said he needed to drive to a local convenience store and buy a "government voucher."
No officer from our department made that call. The number was traced to Jermyn, Pennsylvania, but the truth is that call could have come from anywhere in the world. And that's the problem.
This scam isn't isolated. Our residents -- especially senior citizens -- are being targeted in ways that are increasingly manipulative, coordinated and cruel.
We've had older residents directed by scammers to drive all over Lycoming County, stopping at multiple stores to purchase hundreds of dollars' worth of gift cards. The criminals stay on the phone the entire time, coaching the victim step by step, telling them exactly which cards to buy, and insisting they scratch off the numbers and read them aloud before they even leave the parking lot. By the time a family member or bank employee realizes something is wrong, the money is already gone.
In other cases, seniors have been instructed to withdraw large sums of cash from their bank accounts -- sometimes their entire savings -- while the scammer stays on the line, warning them not to speak to anyone at the bank. Victims are then told to deposit the cash into a local cryptocurrency ATM, believing they are paying a government fine or protecting their accounts from "fraud." Once the cash is converted to crypto, it's instantly transferred overseas, beyond the reach of any local authority.
We've seen residents convinced they're helping law enforcement, the IRS, or even their own bank. Victims are told their grandchildren are in danger, their homes are at risk, or their identities have been stolen. The criminals know exactly how to manipulate fear, urgency, and trust -- and they do it with precision.
I spent years as an investigator before taking this job. I know how to build a case: pull records, run down leads, put a name to a voice. None of that works on a call routed through a spoofed number operated by a criminal organization halfway across the globe.
These schemes aren't crimes of opportunity. They are industrialized operations run by transnational criminal networks, many based in Southeast Asia, that treat fraud as a business model. And it's not just phone calls. Criminals use U.S. technology to bombard Americans with fraud at a scale we've never seen. Social media platforms host billions of scam ads every day. Artificial intelligence now allows scammers to create messages, voices, and videos that look and sound real. The tools of deception have outpaced the tools of enforcement.
Local law enforcement can only do so much. We are fighting international crime with municipal resources. Closing down these operations will take federal intervention, and we should ask Congress to support this approach.
Our federal lawmakers must strengthen the systems that protect Americans from online fraud. Once money is moved through a voucher, wire transfer, or crypto wallet, it is usually gone. Every dollar spent on prevention beats every hour spent on recovery.
Local departments like mine will keep issuing warnings and taking reports. That's our part, and we'll do it. But most of the time, the perpetrator behind a scam is someone we will never identify. Prosecution is rare because the criminals operate beyond the reach of local and state authorities.
Cybercriminals do not care about municipal or state boundaries. They exploit them. The sophistication of this misconduct has outpaced the tools, authority, and jurisdiction of local and state agencies. Several federal agencies investigate international financial crime, but there is no unified reporting system and no streamlined way for victims or local departments to escalate cases.
The missing piece isn't awareness -- it's centralized enforcement.
That's why Executive Order 14390, issued earlier this year, matters. It directs federal agencies to dismantle transnational scam centers, strengthen financial-crime enforcement, expand victim protection, and coordinate intelligence across jurisdictions. But an executive order alone isn't enough. It needs congressional backing, funding, and follow-through.
Pennsylvania's federal delegation -- including Senators Dave McCormick and John Fetterman -- should support EO 14390 and the broader effort it represents. That means backing data-sharing protocols between states and agencies, establishing federal prosecution units dedicated to cyber fraud, creating a centralized reporting system for victims, and negotiating international agreements that allow U.S. law enforcement to pursue cases beyond our borders.
Online fraud is a nationwide criminal enterprise preying on small businesses, senior citizens, and families throughout our region. Americans are losing staggering amounts of money every year.
Now is the time for Congress to get tough on scammers.
Christopher Kriner is the chief of the Lycoming Regional Police Department.