Editor’s note: The Shawano County Sheriff’s Department reports scam complaints are on the rise again in the county. Sheriff Adam Bieber on Friday issued the following information about some recent scams and what people should watch out for:
You receive a phone call telling you that you’ve one a lottery you never entered. To collect, all you have to do is contact someone, usually out of the country, to make arrangements for payments of your winnings.
Does this sound too good to be true? It is.
There are always strings attached. You must pay up front to cover your end of the costs for collecting, or your phone is being automatically billed a high rate just for making the call. At the end of it all, you will never receive the promised winnings.
This is a common variation of a typical scam: “Pay us something now and you will get much more in the near future.”
A distant relative calls from overseas and tells you they have been arrested for some petty crime. They beg you to wire their bond money or they will have to stay in a horrible jail.
Does that sound too far-fetched to fall for? Some do, only to find out their loved one is safely at home and their money is now in an account in a foreign country.
There are many versions of these scams and they all have common themes: pay now and get what you want later.
Later will never come, and there is little your local police agency is going to be able to do to help. You could be out hundreds or thousands of dollars, and many of these thieves will use the name of reputable companies to lure you in.
Lately, we’ve once again seen a rise in these attacks in our area both by phone and through email accounts.
Our best advice is to tell them you are contacting the police and hang up, or don’t open or respond to emails you don’t recognize or that look suspicious.
Unfortunately, as technology increases, so do the opportunities for scammers to try their same tricks in different ways. At the end of the day, you never get something for nothing.
If you want to learn about scams or are suspicious about a call, email or special offer you receive, a great place to check is at www.phonebusters.com. This site outlines just about every version of scams that are out there and will actually list the types of wording these criminals will use to lure you in.
The best protection against these attacks is understanding how they operate.