Sheriff Dept - phone scam targets county residents
Columbia County, FL (Posted August 30, 2010 09:59 am)
DO NOT SEND MONEY
A new telephone scam is making the rounds in Columbia County. Several area residents have reported bogus solicitation calls to the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office.
This new scam informs residents that they have won the Publishers Clearing House Sweepstakes. The con man informs the “winner” that they must send money via Western Union as a processing fee to claim their prize. The calls are originating from overseas and the solicitor may be verbally threatening and make continuous harassing calls to the “winners”.
The Columbia County Sheriff’s Office offers these pointers to residents:
1. No legitimate sweepstakes
will require that you send any money to them.
2. If you did not enter a particular
sweepstakes…you did not win.
3. Legitimate sweepstakes will not ask for your
social security number or bank account numbers.
4. If you did not enter the Canadian Lottery…you
did not win.
5. Never give anyone your bank account information
or social security number. Your banking institution will
never ask for the information over the phone.
6. If you receive a call stating that you have won
something and you know you did not enter, hang up the
phone and do not engage in conversation with these scam
artists.
7. Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it
probably is.
Many of these telephone scams originate in Nigeria and may have their calls routed through Canada or the Caribbean. The Caller ID may show the calls coming from the United States but most likely a “Caller ID mask” is being used to fake where the call is coming from.
Again, it is best to not engage in conversation with the scam artists. The scam artists know that in these tough economic times, people may be willing to send them money in hopes of reaping a greater reward. Unfortunately, these greater rewards do not exist.