Law roundup: Student avoids TikTok scam with police help

A student was reportedly almost scammed by a TikTok user who claimed they wanted to use one of his portrait photos as a concept for a portrait, promising him $500 in payment. The scammer then sent a fraudulent $1,000 deposit and was told to return $500; a common fraud scheme, according to the Kalispell Police Department. Luckily, the fraudulent deposit bounced before the student could withdraw money. 

The scammer then attempted to scare the student into paying by sending threatening messages from a fictitious assassin with graphic photos of decapitation from online terrorist websites. An officer counseled the student on reporting the TikTok and Gmail accounts used to contact him to relevant entities. Police offered to complete an online report with the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center at https://www.ic3.gov.

A salon owner was suspicious of shady people coming and going from a camper parked in front of the building. The main character in the situation was reportedly a balding man with stringy, long hair, sporting a fur coat. People allegedly drove up to the camper and the dodgy man would come out to hand his visitors some goodies from a bag. Then, the visitors would leave. The camper would be moved every couple of days but eventually made its way back.

The salon owner added that people were defecating behind the building and on the walls, as well as littering belongings all over the property.

A company’s maintenance worker quit after allegedly texting an employee that he was going to put a 9mm to another employee’s head. A manager called the police inquiring about how the individuals involved could obtain a restraining order.

A man smoking a pipe in a Dodge Neon reportedly kept parking in a spot designated for handicapped people and “going over the parking time,” ignoring a person's request to move. They initially asked the parking attendant to handle the situation but were concerned the man would become disorderly. They added a concern that he was loitering in the vehicle outside the children’s entrance. The man left only to return bur was parked legally. An officer contacted the caller about the situation.  

A blonde woman wearing a bright pink hat allegedly left a store and proceeded to scream at random people in the parking lot. An officer counseled her about her behavior.

A woman from a beauty salon may have wanted to tear her hair out when finding delivery and semi-truck drivers parked in the alley, blocking customer parking spots, but instead yelled at the drivers. The employee receiving the deliveries called officers to find out if there were any applicable city ordinances or laws about the situation and said the vehicles would park there for five up to 25 minutes. Officers counseled both parties and provided options moving forward.

A woman wearing heels reportedly fled on foot after shoplifting.