COMMUNITY INFORMATION
The Jones County Sheriff’s Office is alerting residents that scam artists continue to target senior citizens.
Investigator Lt. Kenney Gleaton stated in a Nov. 21 interview that he was finishing up a report of a local woman who was swindled out of thousands of dollars in a lottery scam, and the funds were most likely not recoverable.
Gleaton said the victim, who was more than 80 years old, was contacted by phone and told she had won the lottery. The caller told her all she had to do was to pay income tax on the winnings to receive the money.
The investigator said she was asked to mail gift cards and cash, and she did. He said the victim admitted this had been going on since this summer, and she had lost thousands of dollars before contacting the JCSO.
“We want to stress that the lottery will not contact you by phone, and law enforcement will not call you about a warrant,” Gleaton said.
He added that the IRS does not call people on the phone about delinquent taxes, and neither the IRS nor law enforcement take gift cards as payment.
The investigator also wanted to alert friends and family members of seniors who might be vulnerable to these types of scams.
“Please keep an eye on your loved ones and try to help them not be a target,” he said. “It’s sad to say that once funds are mailed to these people, they are usually not recoverable.”
Sheriff Butch Reece recently put a fraud alert post on Facebook concerning bank fraud. Reece said his office has been made aware of multiple recent attempts to defraud banking customers.
“The culprits have made telephone contact with account holders and claimed to be representatives of the fraud department of the bank. Through this interaction, the scammer obtains the client’s account information, including password and login credentials,” he stated. “Be advised, your bank will NEVER attempt to gather such information from you via telephone.” The sheriff suggested making face-to-face contact with a bank representative if a call like that is received.
“If you are the victim of such an attempt, please contact my office to file a report,” he said.
The number to call to report suspicious activity to the Sheriff’s Office is 478-986-3489.
