Full Notification

*ALERT*

We recently have been receiving reports of scams from citizens that we want to make everyone aware of. Below are the two most frequent:

“Grandparent Scam” – elderly residents receive a phone call from a party posing as a grandchild/relative stating they are out of the country on vacation and they have been in an accident, arrested etc. The person posing as the grandchild then asks for money to be sent (generally via western union) to pay legal fees, fines, hospital bill etc. Any person receiving these types of calls should not send any money unless they speak with another family member to verify the information is accurate.

“Craigslist/EBay Scam”- persons listing items for sale, apartments for rent etc. are contacted by a “buyer” who then gets the address of the victim and mails them a check, money order, cashier’s check etc , in an amount much larger than that requested. A $150.00 bed for example they may send $2,000.00. The “buyer” then calls/texts and apologizes for the overpayment mistake and asks the victim to DEPOSIT the check etc. in the victim’s account and send the left over money back to them via WESTERN UNION. Frequently the check/money order or cashier’s check is fraudulent and then the victim is out the money they send to the “buyer”. Often times the address the “buyer” gives the victim to send the excess money to is in a foreign country. The victim often will be told to keep an extra $50.00 or $100.00 for the trouble caused by the “accidental” overpayment. Please remember the old adage “If something sounds too good to be true it often is.”

Please share this information so that we can inform as many people as possible.