To publicize the dangers posed by scam artists who use threatening telephone calls in seeking to force the person called to give them money, Newtown police are publicizing a recent incident in which a Monroe woman was the target of such a scam.website a note that had been posted on the "Monroe, Connecticut Moms" webpage by a Monroe mother who described the chilling details of the threatening phone call she had received.

Newtown police have posted on their Facebook page and at their

Newtown police said they considered the details of the incident important enough to share with others on their Facebook page because Newtown residents have been on the receiving end of similar threatening phone calls in the past. Newtown police pointed out that the affected Monroe woman reported the scam to Monroe police who are investigating the case.

In that harrowing phone call, a screaming man repeatedly urged the woman he had called to provide him with money to prevent the woman's husband, who was identified by his surname, from being shot and killed following a serious motor vehicle accident.

The caller demanded that the woman transmit $3,000 to him via Western Union to prevent a shooting. The woman hung up on the caller and was able to reach her husband via telephone at work, in effect, confirming that the threatening telephone call was a ruse. The screaming man then called the woman back, and lied, falsely again telling her that her husband was on the verge of being shot.

Police say that such telephone scams typically originate outside the United States by criminals who place calls on disposable cellphones that are non-traceable. Because such cases are very unlikely to result in arrests, police publicize such scams to put the public on guard against such fraud/larceny situations.