Bentonville’s Burckart Caught In Online Scam

If you’re busy wiring cash to Bentonville’s Bill Burckart because he’s trapped in London, England, on a family vacation that’s gone off the rails … don’t. You’re being scammed.

“This message may be coming to you as a surprise,” the suspicious e-mail begins, “but I need your help. Few days back my family and I made an unannounced vacation trip to London, UK. Everything was going fine until last night when we were mugged on our way back to the hotel …”

The fake SOS ends with “Burckart” requesting a loan to pay bills, and promises a refund once he gets home. “All I need is $1,850 USD. Let me know if you can get me the money then I will let you know how to get it to me,” the e-mail said.

Burckart, a member of the Bentonville City Council, told Whispers the scam came to his attention on Sept. 28. His Gmail and Facebook accounts were hijacked in the process, he said, and all the information therein is lost. 

So many people were calling to offer their assistance that his phone crashed. Burckart said the Bentonville police did open a file over the matter, then noted the difficulty in tracking down the identity or location of online scam artists.

As a result of all this hubbub, Burckart, owner and president of Burckart Construction Inc., doesn’t see himself returning to the social networking world anytime soon.

“They were chatting with my Facebook friends,” Burckart said. “One person called and said, ‘I’m talking to you on chat. What should I say?'”

And just for the record, no, Burckart has never been to London.