OC Sheriff’s Office issues August 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 releases the August 2018 Scams Update, explains Public Information Officer Jimmy Watt. “The Sheriff’s Office took a report of a scam in which the victim stated that they had seen an online ad in which the victim would be paid a certain amount each month for having a decal of a soft drink on their vehicle. After being contacted, the victim was sent a check that was supposed to be for a car specialist that would help in getting the car detailed. The victim cashed the check at a bank and was advised to send most of the money to an address out of state. The victim tried to e-mail the individual whom made contact with the victim originally but those e-mail’s not be returned. The victim was advised to contact the bank to make arrangements to pay them back since the account is showing a negative balance. Scammers can play on a variety of emotions and one of those is the appearance of getting something for nothing. One of the surest signs that we see in regards to scams is someone who receives a check, is asked to deposit or cash that check and then they are asked to send some of the money to someone else, usually out of state. If you do this, it is a pretty sure bet that you will have to pay your bank or financial institution back due to the fact that the check is no good and your account balance will be in the negative. A deputy spoke with an individual who stated that they had received a phone call from an individual claiming to be from an internet company who said that their internet service provider had closed and that they owed them money back. The individual stated that they would deposit money in their account but they needed some account information, which was provided to the caller and a check for an amount greater than the refund was placed into the account. The caller called back to inform them of this error, told them to take money out of the account and then place that money on gift cards for the remaining balance. The gift cards were not purchased and the citizen went to the bank, where they were informed that whoever gained access to the account took out a loan on the citizen’s credit and put it in the account. A freeze was placed on the account. The caller called back and the citizen informed them it was a scam and the computer was taken to be professionally cleaned. One of the problems that I see with this scam is that there are so many moving parts, which scammers can use to confuse a victim. First of all, if someone calls from your Internet Service Provider claiming that they are going out of business and that money is owed, hang up and call your ISP and check on that status. Secondly, if that company is taking money out of an account for payment each month, they should have that account information already. If they are not, then do not provide them your account information but once again, call your ISP to check on a possible refund status should you be overbilled. Once someone has your account information, your personal identifiable information could be compromised or money could be withdrawn from your account or a loan could be taken out, like what we see in this case. If your credit is damaged, it could be a long process to reestablish your good name. Thirdly, one of the surest signs of a scam is someone requesting payment using gift or prepaid cards. A citizen informed the Sheriff’s Office of a letter received from someone claiming to be from Barcelona, Spain from a Financial and Security Institute. The letter said a large sum of money that was abandoned in a safety deposit vault that the writer claimed belonged to a foreign customer that shared the same last name as a citizen. According to the writer, the alleged vault holder and family died in a car accident in 2008. The writer stated that these funds can be released to a possible inheritor. The writer said, upon agreement, that 40% of the money would go to the inheritor, 50% to the writer of the letter and 10% to charity. The writer asked the citizen to keep this in strict confidentiality and only contact the writer via her husband’s contact information. The requesting to keep this information confidential and to only contact the family member of the person who reportedly wrote this letter should raise some red flags, first of all. The letter that was written did not appear to be professionally written, unlike something you would expect from someone claiming to be from a financial corporation. For example, grammatical errors were contained in the body of the letter. The danger here, once again, stems from the scammer playing on the emotions of the person in regards to getting something for nothing. Of course, if one had an inheritance coming, would they want to share half of it with someone claiming to be from the financial institution who had their money?” To learn more about these latest scams reported in Oconee County, visit www.oconeelaw.com.