Oconee County Sheriff’s Office Issues June 2020 Scam Update

In our continuing efforts to educate and inform our citizens and to prevent them from becoming victims of scams, the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office is releasing today our June 2020 Scams Update.

A deputy spoke with a citizen in regards to the citizen receiving a call from a person who claimed to be an employee of Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative. The caller told the citizen that their electricity would be turned off during the late morning hours on the date of the call unless the citizen would provide their financial information in order to make a payment. The citizen hung up on the caller and called Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative directly. The citizen told the deputy that the utility had received multiple calls regarding this type of scam.

“The citizen told the deputy that he has his utility payment set up on a monthly bank draft,” says Master Deputy Jimmy Watt, Public Information Officer with the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office. “As we have stated in previous scam updates, any company, business or entity that you do business with already has either your financial account information or your personal identifying information. Therefore, you do not need to supply it should someone call you because that could be a sure sign of a scam.”

“The citizen in this case did the right thing in that he hung up on the scammer and called his utility company directly,” continues Master Deputy Watt. “The number that the scammer called from was a number with an 864 area code. Scammers can and do spoof the phone lines to make it look it they are calling from local numbers. Our advice has always been to our citizen that if you do not recognize the number from a call you are receiving, do not answer the phone. If it is important, let the caller leave you a message.”

A deputy spoke with a citizen by phone in reference to the citizen receiving a phone call from someone claiming to be calling from the Louisiana Social Security office. The caller spoke with a thick foreign accent, according to the victim.

The caller told the victim that they would need to purchase some gift cards in order for a new social security number to be issued. The victim went to a store and purchased two gift cards to a business. After purchasing the gift cards, the victim provided the caller the card numbers and the pin numbers of the cards.

The victim received another call that same day from someone stating that they were from the Louisiana Social Security office, however, the victim confronted the caller and the caller hung up. The total loss for the victim is approximately $800. The victim told the deputy that they did not provide any personal identifying information and the victim was instructed to go to his bank to make them aware of what had occurred.

“I am not aware, at any time, that anyone from or connected with Social Security would require payment in order to issue a Social Security number,” says Master Deputy Watt. “The surest sign that this was a scam was the requirement to make a payment using, in this case, gift cards. A legitimate business, entity or company will never require payment using a gift or a prepaid card. Once the money is removed from the card, it is almost impossible for that money to be recovered. Thankfully, the citizen did not provide any personal identifying information to the caller.”

Submitted by Master Deputy Jimmy Watt