Fayette County Sheriff Keith Korenek and other agencies are raising awareness about scams that prey on the vulnerable. Along with the Social Security Administration and the Office of the Inspector General, as part of National Consumer Protection Week, agencies are letting people know that scams are becoming even more sophisticated and believable.
You get a call, email or text from the Social Security Office and you are told your benefits will end unless you pay up, or they say are from the IRS and you owe taxes, or you need to give them your Medicare number to get a new card. STOP. These are all scams. Governmental agencies won’t call, email or text and ask for money or personal information.
Don’t feel sad that you almost fell victim to a scam. Scammers target everyone and work on the amount of people they contact in hopes of just a few fall victim. You can recognize scammers. They pretend to be from an agency or organization that you may know and tell you there is a problem or a prize, and then they tell you you must pay or relinquish personal information to solve the problem or get the prize. The scammers will then instruct you to pay in a specific way. Trust your instincts.
Remain calm and talk to someone you trust. Hang up or ignore the message. Do not click on any links or attachments. Scammers, acting like legal entities, will instruct you to pay with a gift card, prepaid debit card, wire transfer, money transfer or pay by cash.
This should be a major red flag.
Scammers are telling people that they have money tied up in a bank, usually a large sum, and they can not get to it unless you send them some money to help them access that account. The prize is that they will share the money with you. But first, you must send them money in hard to trace payments.
Be skeptical of a contact that you did not initiate. If they say they are from a certain governmental agency. Hang up and call them directly. Do not ask for a call back number from them to verify. Scammers have backup systems in place for that.
If it happened to you, it is happening to others. Contact Report-Fraud.ftc.gov or call your local law enforcement agency and they can direct you on where to call.
This information and other information like this can be found on sea.gov/scam.
