Watch: Scam Sweeps Newberry County
Newberry, S.C. (WOLO) — The Newberry Sheriff’s Office is working to stop the most recent wave of scams in the area.
The office says they’ve seen a continual rise in scam attempts, but in the past two weeks they’re seen a resurgence in a scam that’s taking advantage of family ties.
Lt. Tony Eigner tells ABC Columbia, “They’re getting information from obituaries posing as family members who have actually been incarcerated who are needing money. A second party pretending to be an officer telling them the urgency to get the money to them.”
Chief Deputy Todd Johnson says the recently popular scam making its rounds in the county is targeting the elderly.
He explains, “It’s a very calculated scam that plays on the heartstrings of the love of a grandparent.”
According to the sheriff’s office this is just one of multiple scams plaguing area.
“The IRS scams, the fraud check scams, tech support scams, and then you have the collection agency scams and the dating and relationship scams,” says Lt. Eigner.
Chief Deputy Johnson says that unfortunately, little can be done to stop scammers, so once the money’s gone, it’s gone for good.
He explains, “We can’t go to some the Arabic countries that these scams are coming from and bring them back. Some of these are going to fund ISIS and organizations like that. These are some of their organizations and some of their tactics.”
Which is why the sheriff’s department is reminding residents to be wary of callers requesting personal information and money on reloadable credit cards.
“Technology is at a point where if you have enough time and enough money anything is possible, so we really have to be on guard against the use of technology,” says Chief Deputy Johnson.
He also points out that law enforcement will never ask or accept re loadable credit cards as a form of payment and that if you have any doubts about who’s on the other end of the phone you should contact law enforcement.
