NJ woman scammed via fake New Kids on the Block member, cops say (Opinion)

You remember New Kids on the Block right? Or "NKOTB" as the diehards call it (even though there are literally the same amount of syllables in the acronym version of their name)?

They have a pretty big fan base all these years later. One of these fans recently had her guard WAY down and was taken for over $2,000, according to police.

Back in mid-December, Patch reports police say, 42-year-old Cynthia Salvadore of Mansfield received a phone call from someone who (falsely) introduced himself as New Kids on the Block member Jordan Knight. This guy:

He looks a bit like a meatier Brandon Flowers here, doesn't he?

Police say the faux boy band member told the woman he wanted to send her a check to cash, so she could then send the money to a charity in ... yep, you guessed it already, Nigeria. It seems as though that generous Nigerian prince is at it again. Only this time, it isn't a confused elderly person falling for the scam. It's someone who so desperately wants to help her teen heartthrob.

An investigation opened up after a fraudulent check was caught at a Hackettstown-check cashing establishment, police said, according to the report. At the time, police charged the superfan with third-degree cashing a bad check and possession of a forged check, the report says.

So how much did Cynthia Salvadore lose? Police say she put $2,000 into an account at a bank, then purchased $700 in gift cards, according to the report. All of this was reportedly handed over to the scammer.

I am beginning to wonder if maybe it's time we had some sort of scam safety training courses available. These liars and cheats wouldn't be doing all of this if there wasn't a success rate. If these scammers make 500 calls in a day and get one person to fall for it, there's a good chance they're walking away with a pretty penny.

We've heard countless calls on the air here at New Jersey 101.5 of stories about grandparents receiving phone calls from people claiming to be their grandchildren in prison or kidnapped.

There are countless others too. The scammers that pretend to be from Microsoft of Apple and need to rid your device of viruses. The fake police charity collectors. The people that pretend to be a rep from your bank that just so happen to need your social security number so they can help resolve a "weird charge." We need to help train the gullible to recognize the signs they are being hustled out of money.

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