By: Lydia Crawley
The Parsons Advocate
City of Parsons Police Chief Kevin Keplinger and one of his staff attended a training in Buckhannon on white collar crime, electronic crime and phone crime hosted by the FBI National Academy, supported by the FBI in Pittsburgh. The training has lead Keplinger to want to inform the Tucker County public on what he has learned.
“I was absolutely amazed and shocked at the level of the stuff going on,” Keplinger said.
Keplinger said he is putting together a presentation for any groups in the area that would be interested in learning more on the subject. Keplinger said that his goal is to inform the public, especially the elderly, who are a target for scammers. The FBI also supplies support and materials, as well.
“The outreach is enough that they said they would actually send (FBI) agents out,” Keplinger said.
The State Attorney General was also present at the training, Keplinger stated. A fund now exists for victims of these types of crimes. Keplinger said that nothing like this existed before. In the past when victims lost sustained substantial losses, the money was just gone. With the fund, victims can recoup some of what was lost.
“I wasn’t aware that there is actually a fund that we can point victims to now because we were never able to do that before, to help to recoup at lease some of their losses back,” Keplinger said.
Keplinger said that when looking at National GDP of the United States, Germany and China, when put together, they are number four in the world in GDP. Even nations are sponsoring and engaging in scam activity, according to Keplinger.
“I was under the impression that this was a couple of actors in Mumbai, India and its not,” Keplinger said.
Keplinger said he is seeking civic groups, church groups and other organizations to present what he has learned to. To schedule a presentation for a group or organization, contact Chief Kevin Keplinger at the Parsons Police Department located at 341 Second Street in Parsons or at the Department’s non-emergency number 304-478-3060.
“Reach out because this stuff, it is happening here in West Virginia,” Keplinger said.
