OC Sheriff’s Office issues July 2018 Scams Update

In their continuing efforts to educate and inform citizens and to prevent them from becoming victims, the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office releases the July 2018 Scams Update. The Oconee County Sheriff’s Office received word from a couple recently who stated they were looking for someone to do some remodeling work on a portion of their home and discovered a business name in the paper along with the name of the owner. The couple met with the owner and an agreement was made to do the work. The business owner had requested money for the purchase of materials and for labor for the job and a check was provided. Work began on the project, however, the work was not completed and any remaining money not used has not been refunded by the business owner to the couple. “In this particular case, the couple discovered that the owner of the business is not licensed, bonded or insured after initially making claims to the contrary in the paper and the owner of the business lives outside of Oconee County,” says Oconee County Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Jimmy Watt. “Circumstances such as these are normally considered to be a civil manner instead of a criminal matter since money was exchanged and agreed upon and some work was completed on the job, even though the work was not completed fully. If money was exchanged and no work was done, then it would be considered a criminal matter and a person under these circumstances could be charged with Breach of Trust. The Sheriff’s Office has always recommended in the past that before you hire someone to do any work on your home or property to please do your homework and make sure the company is reputable and is licensed, bonded and insured. Also, talk with your friends and family to see if they have someone they can recommend and for whom they have been satisfied with regarding any work that has been done for them.” The Oconee County Sheriff’s Office received word from a citizen who received a call in February of this year from a company who claimed to be a support company for a known software and technology company who said they offered internet help services. The victim agreed to pay the company a set sum of money and allowed the company remote access to their computer. The victim received another phone call from the same company in June, stating the company was going out of business and stated they were refunding the victim some money but they claimed they entered the wrong amount of money. The victim was asked to go and purchase some prepaid cards to refund the company the amount they accidentally refunded the citizen. The victim further told the deputy that the same subject called back a couple of days later and said that an additional refund was provided to the victim and the subject asked the victim to go to the bank and wire transfer the additional money that was refunded to the victim back to the company. The subject called back the next day and stated the wire transfer had not gone through and it would need to be completed again. Further investigation revealed that money had been moved from the victim’s savings account into the victim’s checking account in the amounts necessary for the two refunds to take place. The victim’s financial institution took immediate action and recovered the amount of money that was sent in the wire transfer and closed the account. The victim also had retained all the gift cards that had been purchased along with the transaction receipts so officers were able to obtain information from the gift cards as well. “The Sheriff’s Office has always recommended to our citizens to never allow anyone remote access to your computer unless you initiate the call to a software or technology company yourself,” says Watt. “Once you allow someone remote access to your computer, a scammer could freeze your computer or hold it for ransom or upload malware or viruses and or obtain sensitive information that may be on the computer. As we have pointed out also, legitimate businesses or companies will not require payment of any sort on a prepaid card but there is some good news on that front if you find yourself in that kind of situation. According to one of our fraud investigators, officers may be able to call the card company to see if there is a balance and can make a request for the card company to freeze the funds or if the cards purchased are specifically store gift cards, the stores can or will in most cases transfer the funds onto other gift cards so money can be returned to the victim. Officers in those cases would need to obtain the card numbers on the gift cards, take pictures of the cards on the front and back and be able to call the companies or the stores directly to ask for their assistance so the scammers will not be able to benefit any further.” The Oconee County Sheriff’s Office also received word from a citizen that was communicating with someone online. When the father of the subject discovered the online relationship, he made threats toward the citizen that if the citizen did not pay half of the cost for the enrollment and treatment of the daughter in a mental health program out of state, then he would go to jail and that payment needed to be made through an app. Instead of sending the full amount requested, the citizen called the Sheriff’s Office. “We have reported on this kind of scam before and we recommend that our citizens not to befriend anyone they do not know and to not exchange any type of what may be deemed inappropriate photographs or communications with anyone that you meet online as scammers can use this to blackmail you,” according to Watt.