Released by the Oconee County Sheriff's Office.
In our continuing efforts to educate and inform our citizens and to prevent them from becoming victims of scams, the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office is releasing today our March 2020 Scams Update.
A deputy took a call recently from a citizen who stated that they received a phone call stating that their power bill had not been paid. The caller told the citizen that he had until noon that day to make a payment or his power would be disconnected. The caller advised the citizen to purchase a pre-paid card and place money on that card in order to pay his bill. The citizen checked with his power company and was notified by them that money was still owed, however, the power company had not contacted him directly. The citizen then contacted the Sheriff’s Office.
“The citizen did the right thing, first of all, by contacting the power company to verify whether there was money owed for the power bill,” says Master Deputy Jimmy Watt, Public Information Officer with the Sheriff’s Office. “We see two techniques in this incident that scammers use. First, creating a sense of urgency, which can cause someone to make a rash decision based on emotions and panic. The second technique is the scammer asking the citizen to make a payment using a pre-paid card. Legitimate businesses will not ask someone to make a payment using a pre-paid card.”
In another incident that occurred, the Sheriff’s Office spoke with a gentleman recently after deputies were informed that he had purchased several prepaid cards at a store and there were concerns that he was being scammed. The gentlemen said that he had received a call from a person stating that they were from a sweepstakes company. The man was informed that he had won over $2 million dollars. The man was given a name and phone number and then was instructed to purchase some prepaid cards. The man was then instructed to call the number back and provide the information on the prepaid cards, plus, the man was instructed to provide some credit card information. The credit card information was provided, upon which the man was told that a cash advance was needed in order for the man to be able to collect a check from the sweepstakes company.
The total value of the prepaid cards was $1,750 dollars while the case advance on the credit card was close to $1,900. An investigator placed a call to the phone number the gentlemen was given and the automated answering system said the answering center was closed.
“As we mentioned previously in the past, in order to win in a legitimate sweepstakes, you have to enter said sweepstakes. It does not appear that this citizen entered a sweepstakes, he was just contacted and said he had won,” says Master Deputy Watt. “Scammers will sometimes play on the emotions of victims, indicating that they have won a large cash prize, almost like getting something for nothing. Once again, we see payment being requested on prepaid cards, which is a pretty good indication of a scam. However, the victim was asked to provide some credit card information too. Never under any circumstances should anyone provide any type of financial information, including account information and numbers, unless they initiate a transaction themselves.”
Sheriff Crenshaw was also made aware of something that occurred outside of Oconee County that he wants to make our citizens aware about that involved a potential security breach. A business was visited by some individuals who said that they were there to work on the businesses IT equipment. The officer manager for the business did not allow the visitor’s access to the equipment since the officer manager was not notified ahead of time about the visit.
“The Sheriff’s Office recommends to our county businesses not to allow anyone from the outside access to areas where sensitive equipment is or to those areas in general unless they have proper identification and/or a work order,” says Oconee County Sheriff Mike Crenshaw. “These measures will not only protect your most sensitive information and equipment but it is also a good rule for security awareness purposes as well.”
