3-9-15 dodge county scam alert

The Dodge County Sheriff’s Office has received numerous reports of citizens receiving phone calls from various scam artists.  Once scam leads you to believe that you have won a multi-million dollar prize and a new car. You will be told that you have won the Publisher’s Clearing House sweepstakes or some other prize.  If you tell them you didn’t enter any such contest, they may tell you that if you purchase anything over $60 at Wal-Mart or pay your bills on time, that you are automatically entered.  They will say they want to deliver your prize today and that the delivery team is in your area and they will indicate that Federal Marshals and the FBI will ensure delivery of your prize to the bank of your choice.  Here is where they steal your money.  They tell you to pay 1% of the taxes for the prize and that they already covered 99% of the taxes for you.  They will have you go to a Western Union or MoneyGram location and want you to send them money. They may also ask you to purchase a money card and provide them with the numbers on the back of the card.  Once they have the numbers they request from the card, your money is gone within minutes.  Some of the callers may suggest meeting you at a Walgreens, but always have an excuse for why they can’t show up.  Other phone scams out there pose as someone from governmental agencies such as the Department of Legal Affairs.  They threaten you by saying that you owe money in the form of outstanding debt or taxes and often will threaten you with jail time for nonpayment.   The scam artists are typically from overseas and have been known to spoof local phone numbers so that it looks like they are local on your caller I.D. The scam artists typically have thick accents but will claim to be from the United States.  Because these scams originate overseas, the Sheriff’s Office will not be able to arrest or request prosecution on these scam artists, and will not be able to recover any money sent.

Related Posts

Loading...