The number of scams from phone calls, on Facebook and from phishing websites, seems to continue to escalate, despite the warnings, based on the number of reports The Newport Plain Talk has seen. Many are being scammed out of hard-earned funds by well- constructed ruses that fool many people with sometimes devastating consequences. Some of the reports are simply heartbreaking.
With the ongoing prevalence of these scammers, who are very hard track to down, and with a desire to bring awareness, we are introducing a semi-regular feature called “Don’t get scammed” with the assistance of Cocke County Sheriff C.J. Ball to bring attention to some of these scams, how to recognize them, how to avoid them and how to report them.
‘Never give money to get money’ During a six-week period from June to early August, there were several reports filed with the Newport Police Department and the Cocke County Sheriff’s Office regarding Bitcoin scams. One woman, in her 90s, lost over $100,000 to a Bitcoin telephone scam. Another lost over $10,000 after their Facebook account was hacked.
Ball encourages anybody who has fallen victim, or suspects they have, to file a report with law enforcement, but that’s the easiest step. “First, you never give money to get money,” Ball cautioned. He said reporting it to law enforcement is an easy and necessary step, but prosecuting the perpetrators is much more difficult as many, if not all, are foreign operators.
“We are not going to be able to charge people because ...
even though they may have an address in New York, they are more than likely not even here (in the United States).” So, how do the scammers convince people to fork over their money? “These people are good,” Ball said. “They ask your social security number, or they already have it and ask you to verify it.
” That gives them the appearance of being somebody in an official or legitimate capacity. That can also lead to a person divulging their bank account. Sadly, once the money is gone in these kind of scams, it is rarely recovered and comes with a significant cost.
Ball’s best advice to avoid being scammed is to hang up on somebody when such a call is received and then block their number. If you get a similar inquiry on Facebook, do not respond and block them from further contact and keep a copy of their attempted contact. Prevention is going to be your best defense.
The jury duty scam A frequent scam involves being contacted by somebody claiming to be from law enforcement threatening to jail you because a warrant has been issued for failure to show up for jury duty. “None of us are going to elicit any kind of money to do with your warrant,” Ball said. “People have got to understand these phone calls and just hang up.
We are getting people now calling saying they are from the sheriff’s department here saying if you don’t show up, you are going to have to pay a $500 fine, send it to them and they will take care of it for you.” It is rarely true there has actually been a jury duty summons that has even been sent to the person receiving the phone call. Frequently they will request it in the form of something like Walmart gift cards, which is a sure red flag.
“We are not going to call you,” Ball said. “If there is an actual bench warrant, the judge will issue a show cause and we will come out and talk to you and that you are appear before the judge and explain why you didn’t come to jury duty. We don’t arrest you.
“Now, we have been sent to go pick up jurors and they appeared before the judge and are told ‘now, look, here’s the law, you have to be here.’” He said another common scam involves somebody calling and posing as being from the IRS. “The IRS isn’t going to do that,” Ball said.
“They will send you a mailer, you contact them and they will set up a payment plan. They are not going to call you and solicit money over the phone.” Next time we plan to discuss more scams and how to recognize when a fundraising effort is legitimate.
Feel free to contact us at [email protected] if you have had an experience you would like to share..
