Oconee County Sheriff’s Office Releases the May 2020 Scams Update

Submitted By: Master Deputy Jimmy Watt
Public Information Officer

(Walhalla, SC) — 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 May 2020 Scams Update.

A citizen notified the Sheriff’s Office of a letter that a county business received. The individual sending the letter said that he worked for a bank outside of the United States and was seeking to reach out to individuals with the same last name of a deceased client. The writer said that the deceased had an account with an open beneficiary status that no relative had come forth to claim.

The writer said the deceased had millions of dollars in the account and without someone to come forth to claim the money; otherwise, the money would be confiscated and reverted to the government treasury. The writer wanted to present the Oconee citizen as the next of kin to claim the money in the account.

“The letter that was written made the transaction seem to be risk free, however, there are several red flags here” says Master Deputy Jimmy Watt, Public Information Officer from the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office. “The letter head did not contain any contact information with a phone number. Only the name of the letter writer, the institution the individual worked the address and an e-mail appeared at the top of the letterhead. The writer told our citizen that the transaction required confidentiality until the process was complete. When it was, the citizen would receive 50% of the money while the writer would also receive 50% of the money. The writer gave the citizen their e-mail address and asked for private numbers to be exchanged in order to keep the conversation confidential. The confidentiality aspect could be considered a red flag to someone who might receive it as well as the appearance of getting something for nothing is another trick that scammers use to lure someone in. The best response would be not to respond at all and shred the letter.”

The Sheriff’s Office continues to remind our citizens of potential scams not only involving the current COVID-19 pandemic but also from the continued clean-up and recovery from the tornado that affected Oconee County during the early morning hours of April 13th, 2020.

“In regards to potential COVID-19 scams, as always, never provide any personal identifying information or account information to anyone that contacts you via mail, e-mail, phone call, text or social media where you yourself did not initiate any contact,” says Master Deputy Watt. “Business, organizations or agencies that you have dealing with already have that type of information already. Be extremely careful of e-mails or correspondence you receive, especially from those you do not know. Clicking on a link or an attachment could potentially download harmful malware or viruses on your computer. Sometime, malicious actors will send a spoofed e-mail out pretending to be from a legitimate agency seeking personal identifying information. Always carefully check the e-mail address when you receive it, only provide information if you initiate the contact and if you fill out anything on line, only do so through the official website of a business, organization or agency.”

In regards to contract work for repairs on homes and businesses that were damaged and still in need of repair due to the recent tornado, the Sheriff’s Office recommends that citizens get recommendations on contractors from family and friends. Citizens can also check online through the Better Business Bureau to see if any contractor has any complaints or check Google Reviews for customer reviews. In regards to being licensed and property credentialed to do work, citizens may also want to contact the Building Codes Department with the city of Seneca for proper licensing and credential information for contractors.

The Sheriff’s Office also recommends that citizens require contractors to provide estimates in writing for the work to be done and only pay for work when that work is completed to the satisfaction of the customer.