By Logan Wells, News Director | Logan@kymnradio.net
Northfield Police Chief Jeff Schroepfer is raising concerns about the increase in fraud crimes in the Northfield area. While crime has overall been on a downward trend for several years in Northfield, one area that is increasing rapidly is fraud. According to Northfield Police Department data, since 2022, Northfield residents have lost over $300,000 to fraud. Schroepfer said that number is likely even higher:
“So, and that’s once we know about, and that’s knowing dollar amounts. So there is some that are they don’t even know how much money they lost exactly. So it’s a lot. I mean there’s a lot of fraud and unfortunately there’s not a lot you can do about it other than messaging and education saying look out for this or don’t give money to that.” – Jeff Schroepfer, Northfield Police Chief at the 5/6/2025 City Council Meeting
Schroepfer stated that the fraud crimes include email, text, and phone call scams. The police chief described the crimes as particularly difficult for his officers to investigate and control.
“I think it was just this last week we got phone calls as well. If somebody is receiving unsolicited e-mail saying Please pay this or this bill is due, ” that kind of thing. Give us your credit card number or go to Target, buy gift cards, or wherever it may be. Send us gift cards, Apple gift cards, that kind of thing. So there are so many different frauds out there. Most of them tie back to overseas, so there’s nothing that can be charged on, and unfortunately.” – Jeff Schroepfer, Northfield Police Chief at the 5/6/2025 City Council Meeting
He stated that he estimates 80% of fraud is committed by people from overseas, leaving the department with few options for prosecuting the crime. Schroepfer stated that the best course to avoid fraud is to prevent it before it happens. However, Schroepfer said that even experts on the issue have fallen for fraud scams. Schroepfer stated that he would work with City Leadership to provide education resources to the community in the future about fraud scams.
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