Date: 03/03/2026
WESTMINSTER, Colo -- Unfortunately, scams in our community and across the state remain far too common. Scammers have become increasingly sophisticated, making them difficult to detect and extremely hard to recover stolen funds.
A few months ago, Westminster detectives began investigating after a resident reported a significant financial loss from a romance scam (person uses a fake online identity to gain a victim’s trust and affection to manipulate or steal money from them) ... and yes, this happens more than you would think. Anyways, through extensive investigative work, multiple court orders, and financial tracking, detectives determined the suspect’s activity was linked to locations in Nigeria and Qatar.
During the investigation, detectives discovered a bank account containing a substantial portion of the victim’s funds that had been frozen by a financial institution. Working with our partners at the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI), detectives obtained a seizure warrant and submitted it to the bank.
As a result, a significant portion of the stolen money was recovered, and the victim received a check for $200,000.
This outcome is extremely rare in scam investigations and serves as an important reminder ... if something feels suspicious, it probably is. ALWAYS verify before sending money. Preventing these situations before they happen remains the best protection.
Additional resources are available on WPD's Crime Prevention page.