Crime Alerts

 

I just received a call from a gentleman in the community who believed he may have been scammed by a sweepstakes offer having already sent them $1900.  This scam initiated with a letter in the mail and he called them after receiving the letter.  Within about an hour and half of receiving the initial call from the victim, Sgt. Samantha Salain identified the phone number used in the scam as being a prepaid phone in Canada .   I wrote the following in a recent Sheriff’s Office newsletter:

 

The rule of thumb of “if it sounds too good to be true it probably is” is still one of the best defenses against the “con man”, even in this high tech day and age.  Too often we see people who have fallen victim to the conniving and scheming tongue of the con who may be in your front yard offering to pour left over asphalt on your driveway or on an email notifying you of some lottery prize you can claim if you first send them a money gram.  It seems man is always trying to find the latest and greatest way to take money from unsuspecting and trusting people.  Internet scams are some of the most difficult to prosecute because the perpetrator is usually in some foreign country making tracking and recovery nearly impossible.  We quickly addressed an issue with paving scammers last year and haven’t had a probably since but the internet, phone and mail scams occur all over the country.  If you think you have been a victim of some type of scam, please contact the Lumpkin County Sheriff’s Office and report the crime.  Be careful, check the source, don’t be forced or hurried into an agreement and remember if it sounds too good to be true it probably is.

Thanks for helping us keep our community safe.

 

Captain Jason Stover

Lumpkin County Sheriff’s Office