Oconee County Sheriff’s Office Issues September 2020 Scams Update

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

The Sheriff’s Office received a report of a COVID-19 related scam. The scam involved the stealing of $800 from a savings account of the victim. The victim was on a social media app and saw an ad for a Coronavirus college grant. After checking with the person on whose account the ad was posted to verify its legitimacy, the victim called a phone number. The person the victim talked to on the phone stated that they were eligible for a $9,000 grant and all they would need would be some financial account information. The person the victim talked to requested that the remainder of the conversation be conducted via text messages.

The victim provided the caller with their user name and password for their banking account. Afterwards, the profile on which the ad appeared notified the victim that their account was hacked and the grant information was not legitimate. Money in the victim’s account was gone.

“One of the staples of being able to detect a scam is if something sounds too good to be true, more often than not it is,” says Master Deputy Jimmy Watt, Public Information Officer for the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office. “When you see something like this on a social media account of someone you know, also try to reach out to the account holder via another means to verify that what is posted is legitimate before you take any action. Also, never supply your financial account information to anyone without verifying the legitimacy of what they are offering first. If you have business dealings with a company, they will more than likely have your financial account information anyway so you will not need to supply it.”

A citizen informed the Sheriff’s Office of someone obtaining her personal identifying information (PII) via a phone call. The victim received a call with a Georgia area code. The caller informed her that he was with the Social Security Administration and that a warrant had been obtained for her arrest from the state of Texas. The reason why the warrant was obtained was due to a vehicle that had been found at the border of Texas that had narcotics inside. The caller requested her information and then provided the victim with a case number and a badge number.

The victim provided the caller her social security number, her birthdate and full name. The victim was notified to contact all of the major credit bureaus and her financial institutions in regards to her personal identifying information being compromised.

“One of the biggest tools that scammers can use on victims is to stir their emotions in some way, in this case, to cause them to panic in order to make a poor decision because someone is not thinking clearly,” according to Master Deputy Watt. “In this case, you have a victim who has been told that they have an arrest warrant that is issued against them. One red flag in this scam is that the victim received a call from the Social Security Administration regarding what they said was a law enforcement matter.”

“Normally, when an officer checks to see if an arrest warrant has been obtained against a subject, or in the obtaining of the arrest warrant itself, some personal identifying information is used. However, one bit of PII that is normally not used is someone’s social security number. If someone does calls from the Social Security Administration, they should have your information anyway. You should not have to provide it. In these situations, we recommend that citizens inquire which law enforcement agency obtained the arrest warrant. If that information is not provided, simply hang up the phone. If a particular law enforcement agency is mentioned, then hang up the phone, obtain the contact information for that LEO and contact them to verify if an arrest warrant has been issued.”

In a similar type law enforcement scam, a deputy spoke with a citizen who stated that they had been contacted by someone claiming to be from New Mexico. The caller stated that the citizen’s information had been used to rent a vehicle in New Mexico. The caller further stated to the citizen that blood stains had been located inside the vehicle and that the vehicle had been turned over to the FBI.

The caller then went on to say that in order to prevent the citizen’s personal information from being compromised, the citizen needed to purchase a Green Dot card in the amount of $900. After doing so, the information on the card needed to be sent to a number. The citizens purchased the card and followed the instructions. The citizen, after realizing he had been scammed, contacted the Sheriff’s Office. The citizen told the deputy that he had never been to New Mexico or rented the car.

“Just as in the previous scam, we see the scammer creating a sense of panic which caused the victim to do something they may not have done otherwise,” says Master Deputy Watt. “A request for payment to be made with a prepaid card is one of the surest signs of a scam. Even though citizens may not be sure who specifically contacts them, please keep in mind that a law enforcement officer will never request that payment be made in order to clear a legitimate arrest warrant or to preserve someone’s personal identifying information.”

Submitted by Master Deputy Jimmy Watt, OCSO PIO