The Brown County Sheriff’s Office would like to alert the Citizens of Brown County to a series of frauds and scams that are occurring in the southwest Ohio area.
The Brown County Sheriff’s Office would like to alert the Citizens of Brown County to a series of frauds and scams that are occurring in the southwest Ohio area. One common fraud/scams currently being reported involve bogus Publisher’ Sweepstakes prize winners and the victims of this fraud tend to be elderly.
This fraud begins with a telephone call or email that the victim has won a large amount of money. The initial person making contact will be friendly and will often request additional information such as telephone contact numbers and email contact information. The victim will then be advised that money and other prizes are being delivered to the victim’s address.
This fraud will continue with the victim being required to provide gift cards, bank account information, cash wire transfers or checks to cover transportation costs or taxes associated with the prize money or prize delivery.
This fraud can be recognized quickly if any of the following requests are made by the person or persons informing the victim that they are a winner.
• The victim is required to send pre-paid gift cards prior to receiving money or prizes;
• The victim is required to provide bank account information prior to receiving money or prizes
• The victim is required to forward money via wire transfer prior to receipt of money or prizes.
Another common scam currently occurring involves the victim receiving a call from a relative who has been arrested and needs cash bond money to get out of jail. The victim will receive a call from a close relative, often a Grand-Son or Grand-Daughter who is being held in jail for some type of violation and needs cash to bond out of jail. The individual pretending to be the close relative will often have the name of the victim and the close relative. The victim will be told that bond money must be in cash and a driver will come to the victim’s residence or meet the victim at a specific location to receive the cash and then pay the bond. Often, the victim will be told that there is a “gag order” in effect and that the victim is not to tell anyone else about the criminal charge or the bond payment.
This fraud can be recognized if the individual calling makes the following requests.
• The close relative is in jail and needs cash immediately.
• The jail where the close relative is being be held is not the location where the bond is to be paid.
• The victim is advised to pay the bond in cash.
• The victim is advised that someone will meet the victim to take the cash from them at their home or another location.
• The victim is advised not to tell anyone else about the cash bond transaction due to a “:gag order”.
Fraud Alert – Page 2
Should any citizen of Brown County be contacted by anyone who is acting like they are attempting to scam them, contact your local law enforcement agency and report it immediately. Any citizen who has a question or thinks a relative may be the victim of a scam can contact the Brown County Sheriff’s Office and request to speak with a detective.
