OC Sheriff’s Office issues March 2018 Scams Update

In their continuing efforts to educate and inform citizens and to prevent them from becoming victims of scams, the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office is releasing the March 2018 Scams Update. The Oconee County Sheriff’s Office was made aware of a scam recently from an Upstate resident who stated that a family member of theirs had been talking to someone online and pictures were exchanged between the both of them. The family member received a phone call from someone claiming to be Oconee County Sheriff Mike Crenshaw who stated that the pictures which were sent from the family member of the complainant were sent to someone under age and that individual had attempted suicide and if money was sent to help cover the hospital bill, then any pending charges would be dropped. Two transactions with money were sent and then another call was received stating that more money was needed to further cover medical costs but no further money was sent. “We have reported on this kind of scam in the past so this is not something unusual,” says Oconee County Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Jimmy Watt. “First, the person who reached this resident was not Oconee County Sheriff Mike Crenshaw. Secondly, no one should exchange any type of information with someone they meet online and that includes any pictures, especially exchanging any type of provocative material that could open up that person to being blackmailed or scammed. Thirdly, our officers do not in any way deal with the exchange of money between parties nor make any guarantees that legitimate charges in an investigation will be dropped if money is paid for any type of civil issue. If someone is a victim of such a scam, they should never send any money but should report this to law enforcement immediately as any money sent is practically impossible to recover.” The Oconee County Sheriff’s Office received word recently from a citizen regarding a lottery sweepstakes that may have been taking money from the citizen’s bank account. According to the citizen, the citizen agreed to the sweepstakes for $3 a month and provided their bank account information to the company, upon which the citizen has received magazines and other things through the mail. The company has been drafting money out of the citizen’s bank account totaling around $900. The Oconee County Sheriff’s Office was also notified of a reported scam by a citizen who told the deputy that they received a phone call from someone named David claiming to be from Publisher’s Clearing House. The caller asked the citizen several questions, including where the citizen banked, if the citizen used a debit card and if the citizen used a cell phone. The citizen told the caller where the citizen banked at but did not provide any personal information. The citizen continued to be contacted by the person named David and there were times in which the citizen contacted them. The citizen did discover that checks that were written on the account were returned for insufficient funds and the citizen placed a freeze on the account. The citizen discovered that money had been transferred to a savings account from the checking account and withdrawn. The caller had previously stated that in order to receive the winnings from the sweepstakes that money would have to be transferred from a savings account to the checking account and even asked later for the citizen to send a money gram to another individual. “First of all, as we have stated previously, never allow individuals who you don’t know either access to your financial information of any sort or even which financial institution you bank with,” says PIO Watt. “When it comes to sweepstakes, you usually have to enter a sweepstakes in order to win it and there are legitimate sweepstakes companies that operate in our country. And normally, you do not have to pay any processing fees if you do win a sweepstakes so no one should be asking you for money in order to process any winnings. A lot of people get carried away with the thought of getting something for nothing so scammers play upon that emotion.” Oconee County Sheriff Mike Crenshaw was also notified of an IRS scam in which someone called a citizen from a number that showed up on the citizen’s caller ID from a 202 area code. The caller claimed to be John Smith from the Internal Revenue Service and he provided a badge number, an arrest warrant number and a case ID number. The citizen notified the caller that they knew the Sheriff upon which the caller hung up. “The Oconee County Sheriff’s Office continues to receive calls in regards to scams involving the Internal Revenue Service,” according to PIO Watt. “I even spoke to someone personally who contacted me to report an IRS scam, so we still hear of these types of scams going on. First of all, as we have stated previously, if the IRS contacts you regarding something to do with your taxes, they will do so by mail and not by a telephone call. Secondly, the IRS will not obtain an arrest warrant from any local law enforcement agency regarding an issue with taxes and with that being said, citizens do have a right to an appeal. Thirdly, the best way to report IRS scams is to go online to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration at https://www.treasury.gov/tigta/ and file an online report regarding being a victim of an IRS Impersonation Scam. You are also welcome to call the IRS at 1-800-829-1040 with any questions you may have. Scammers of any kind can use Caller ID spoofing to make it look like they are calling locally or from any number so if you receive a call and you are not sure who it is who is calling, we recommend that you do not answer the phone or if you do and you feel that someone is trying to scam you, simply hang up the phone.”