Sheriff Ray Warns of Scams

Sheriff Patrick Ray is asking local residents to beware of scams being reported in the county.
According to Sheriff Ray “The first one is where an automated service calls the victim and tells them their credit or debit card has had numerous unauthorized transactions on it and then the service asks the victim to punch in their card numbers. This has happened to at least two DeKalb County citizens. Neither of the two citizens entered their card numbers.”
In another scam, Sheriff Ray says a senior citizen received calls on two different days and the scammer called the victim by name.
“The scammer called the first day from a restricted phone number and told the victim that there was a survey being conducted here. The scammer asked personal questions of the victim and then asked for their social security number and their credit or debit card numbers. The victim refused to give out the numbers to the caller.”
“On the second day, another scammer called the same victim and advised that there was a grant that had been applied for by the city where the victim lives and asked for personal information such as the victim’s monthly bills, how much money the victim draws each month, and the victim’s social security number and credit or debit card numbers.”
In each case, Sheriff Ray says all of the victims did the right thing. “They hung up and reported the scams to law enforcement. Luckily we have not had any victims to report where they have given personal bank account numbers or social security numbers to the scammers. You should never give personal information out over the phone. If you think you have been a victim of a scam, you should contact law enforcement immediately.”