Lumpkin County Sheriff's Office
From The Sheriff's Desk       "Beware flim flam artists"
Don't you just love it when you sit down for dinner with   your family and the phone rings?          It's someone who wants to provide you with the offer of a lifetime or someone who wants to help the local fire fighters, troopers or sheriff's deputies by demanding you contribute now?      Have you ever received an e-mail or fax from a royal family in Nigeria who wants you to help them divert millions of dollars in royal money to the United States and as their representative, you will receive a percentage if you will give them your bank account number?      Maybe you are at home resting when a paving company representative pulls up in your driveway wanting to let you have the remainder of the asphalt left over from a state D.O.T. project at a cut rate if you will only agree to pay for it now, preferably in cash.      Over the past 21 years in law enforcement I have arrested many people.        Some were those that had a substance abuse problem, some were from terrible homes and suffered from mistreatment, some were good people who just made a bad decision and some were down right evil.      Though all of this I believe the worst - besides sexual predators - may be the con man or flim flam artist.  He is the one that preys on the life savings of our elderly and sometimes most defenseless friends and family members.      Lately many of our citizens have either been victimized or approached by these con me     They come in contact with our citizens either by phone, e-mail or in person.      Most recently one of our citizens lost more than $2,000 in the Canadian Lottery Scam.      Always be on the look out for anyone promising you something for nothing. Remember. If it sounds too good to be true. It is.      This past year, a paving company came through our community that provided shoddy paving at exorbant fees.      Some in neighboring communities were taken in by this company.  After receiving complaints from citizens, I assigned two of my investigators to conduct surveillance on them in our county.      They were followed into Dawson County where they were arrested for fraud and methamphetamine possession.      Around this same time last year a similar group paved a driveway for an 80- year-old grandmother in Habersham County. She paid several thousand dollars in cash for the shoddy work.      Some of these same workers later came back to her home and approached her about a leaky roof.      When she protested that her roof was fine, she was physically attacked and beaten until a large sum of money, her life savings, was found in the home and stolen.      As my Granny would say, "there is a hotter hell for people like that."      There is another group of flim flam artist who I have personally arrested or strongly encouraged to leave town on several occasions over the past few years.      This group is the Irish Travelers of North Augusta, S. C..       Even the state of Georgia office of Consumer Affairs web site lists them as a group of con men that " Perpetuate a tradition of fraud."        They are smooth talking scam artist who are usually nice, clean cut and polite as they have their workers spray your grandfather's shingle roof with a magic water proofing liquid that will stop all leaks.       This magic concoction is nothing more than a little silver paint mixed with diesel fuel.      Well, as the con man's helper sprays this mess on the roof, causing extensive damage, the Traveler takes the check and immediately goes to a local bank and cashes it before the job is even complete.       Don't believe them when they use their pressure sales tactics, " we must do the deal today."      Protect yourself and your loved ones from such evil people by doing business with reputable, local contractors.       Beware of the concerned citizen who calls and wants you to contribute to a local charity in "our community," but they pronounce our town dal-a-knee-ga.      Most reputable charities do use phone solicitations and no sheriff's charities will ever contact you by phone.     Money given to these "charities" over the phone rarely ever reaches the hands of those you are told need the help the most.     Most of the "help" goes to the phone solicitor himself.     When in doubt, wait and contact my office, the Better Business Bureau or Consumer Advocate Clark Howard at www.clarkhoward.com       Remember, if they want your personal information or they want you to send them cash so they can help make you rich, they truly only want to make themselves rich.     Call my office and report any suspicious scams you encounter.                                                                                               Mark T. McClure                                                                                                     Sheriff