Des Plaines police warn of home invasion scams

Des Plaines police are warning senior citizens to beware of scams involving men who represent themselves as electric company employees after two recent home invasions. On May 18, police received a report of four men entering a home on the 900 block of Mason Lane after telling the elderly homeowner that they were there because of an electrical fire. The men then told the homeowner to get out of the house, and later ransacked the place, taking cash and coins, and disconnected the telephone. The homeowner went to a neighbor’s house to call 911. In another incident on June 3, three men entered a home on the 600 block of East Golf Road and similarly told the elderly homeowner that they were from the electric company and that there was a fire next door. The men then told the homeowner that they wanted to check the electricity inside the house. The subjects guided the female homeowner to the basement where they closed and barricaded the door so she could not come out. They then ransacked the place taking jewelry, cash, a television, and the resident’s pet Yorkshire terrier. The subjects also disconnected the telephone. The homeowner was able to push the door open and went to a neighbor’s house to call 911.