LONDON KY (September 3, 2020) - Sheriff John Root is reporting that: The Laurel County Sheriff’s Office is investigating several different phone scams that are circulating in the Laurel County area.
These are a few of the most frequent ones:
- The caller is posing as a grandchild or other family member needing money sent out-of-state reporting that it is needed as bail money or for some other family emergency.
- The caller is posing as the IRS attempting to collect money they say is owed to the IRS and they threaten legal action if it is not sent.
- The caller advises they are sending a check for items or services they can provide requesting a partial amount of money be sent back to the caller.
- The caller advises that a huge prize is being awarded and that a processing fee must be sent back to claim the prize.
- The caller states that they are the social security administration and they need your social security number and other personal information so that their social security check won’t be affected.
- In most of these phone scams, the caller requests money be sent by a cashiers check, a green dot card, money gram, a check or the victim’s bank routing numbers. Sometimes they threaten that a sheriff’s office or other law enforcement entity will intervene or arrest if they don’t comply with their instructions for personal information or money. --- This is totally false!
Citizens need to be alerted that in all these instances, all have been determined to be a scams. Please do not fall prey to this attempt to steal money from unsuspecting people.
Generally, if citizens have caller I.D. on their phone, and do not recognize the caller’s number, it is recommended not to answer, and screen phone calls.
Scammers can even program familiar phone numbers into their calls. Common sense applies here.
As always, we recommend that citizens never give out personal identifying information, and never send money, checks, or other means of cash.
