The Lynden Police Department arrested a suspected courier on September 14 after investigating an alleged fraud involving both cash collections and disclosed gift-card numbers. Police estimated a resident’s combined loss at $60,000, according to KGMI reporter Jason Upton’s September 15 report for My Bellingham Now. [S01]

Police Chief Jeremy Bos told the outlet that the resident had been instructed to make two large cash withdrawals and hand the money to a courier posing as a federal agent. The resident also purchased numerous gift cards and shared their numbers. The report does not identify the issuers or establish how much of the total loss came from cards. [S01]

The account describes two distinct ways of obtaining value: physical cash collection and remote disclosure of gift-card numbers. Police intervened at the cash-collection stage, setting up a sting around 1 p.m. when a 30-year-old Lynnwood man allegedly arrived to collect more money. [S01]

The report said the suspect faced first-degree theft and felony criminal-conspiracy charges. These are allegations, not findings of guilt. It did not report whether previously transferred cash or gift-card funds had been recovered. [S01]