After a recent report of a telephone scam, Brown County Sheriff Bobby Grubbs wants to make the public aware of these types of scams and how common they are becoming.
Brown County Sheriff’s Office received a report of theft by a telephone scam on Thursday, July 10th. According to the deputy’s report, a male subject reported that he received a telephone call stating that he was late on paying his electricity bill and that he needed to make an immediate payment. The male then purchased a Green Dot Money Pak card in the amount of $375.74 as instructed by the caller, the report states. The Money Pak redemption number was provided by the victim by telephone. The complainant later contacted his electric provider and learned that he did not have an overdue bill for his electric service.
Sheriff Grubbs stated that the male was embarrassed to report that he had been a victim of a scam, but that these crimes need to be reported and that they can sometimes be stopped before any loss of money occurs.
Grubbs stated that most scams play on people’s natural tendencies of greed and emotion.
One scam that is a common call promises the person being called has won a prize and to claim it, they have to send money to the caller. In another popular scam, the caller who claims to be the victim’s grandchild will tell the potential victim that they are in jail in Mexico and that they need to send thousands of dollars to pay fines and bail before they can return to the U.S.
“In most cases, you can’t verify where the family member is or who you are talking to, whatever you do, don’t trust the caller,” said Grubbs. He reminded on prize scams, “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”Grubbs stated that phone scams often originate outside of the U.S. and that once funds are sent, the chance of recovering the financial loss is close to zero.
“There’s no telling how much of this (scams) is going on,” said Grubbs. “If you see something out of the ordinary, contact law enforcement or don’t participate in it. Before you act on something suspicious, verify it with law enforcement.”
He explained that these criminals often call multiple times and make many, many calls, “fishing” for a victim. Grubbs stated anyone might receive these calls and fall victim to them, in fact, he stated that even he had received a scam call that he had won a prize years ago.
“Things like this happen,” said Grubbs. “If you are contacted and believe the call is a scam, come talk to us and we’ll help verify if you are being scammed.”
