Sheriff Patrick Ray warns of a possible phone scam.
Ray said the scammer will call the victim and tell them they have won a sweepstakes such as the lottery or Publishers Clearing House. The victim is told that all they need to do to collect is to pay the taxes on their winnings.
“The scammer gives the victim an amount to pay to cover the taxes,” said the sheriff, They will tell the victim to purchase a Green Dot MoneyPak card and put the amount of the taxes on that card.
“They victim is told to go back to their residence, call the scammer back, and give them the number on the card. The scammer can then go to the internet and take money from the card,” Ray advised.
The victim will then be told that their winnings will have to be processed, and the scammer will call back after some time has passed. The victim will be told that the Internal Revenue Service has said that the victim owes more money.
The scammer will request another card be loaded with the newly requested amount.
“They will keep doing that until the victim will not put any more money on the card, then the scammer may get rude or threatening. Sometimes they curse people, or threaten to get warrants against the victim for not paying their taxes. We’ve had reports of people losing a few hundred dollars to the scammers, and some people have lost several thousand,” Ray said.