Police warn to beware of phone scams

Posted 8/3/21

The Powell Police Department is warning community members to be on the lookout for phone scams, saying elderly residents in particular are falling prey to scammers.

In a Facebook post, Powell …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

E-mail
Password
Log in

Police warn to beware of phone scams

Posted

The Powell Police Department is warning community members to be on the lookout for phone scams, saying elderly residents in particular are falling prey to scammers.

In a Facebook post, Powell Police Communications Supervisor Bobbie Colvin reminded the public not to buy gift cards for unknown people and to never give out bank account numbers over the phone.

“Unfortunately, many of our elderly residents are vulnerable to these claims. Most lived in an era when a person’s word meant something,” Colvin wrote. “The fear of being arrested, or having their utilities shut off drives them to give out bank account numbers, driving to Cody to purchase gift cards when the local sellers caution them not to buy these cards. Many of these people are out THOUSANDS of dollars when they comply with the callers requests.”

She described two common types of frauds.

In one variety, the caller pretends to be from a company like Publishers Clearing House and tells the resident they’ve won some kind of prize. To claim their reward, the caller explains that the resident needs to buy some kind of gift card and then read the numbers over the phone. The caller then steals the funds — and never provides the promised prize.

“Publishers Clearing House comes to your house, they don’t call you on the phone,” Colvin noted. “Your chances of winning the sweepstakes is one in millions!”

In another common phone scam, the caller will tell a resident that they're calling from the Park County Sheriff’s Office or police department and have a warrant for their arrest; the resident can take care of the warrant by providing some kind of payment, again via some kind of gift card or money order. A similar version of the scam involves the caller telling residents that they are late on their utility payments (and need to pay up via a gift card).

Authorities generally do not call residents to tell them they have a warrant out for their arrest — and they never accept payments in gift cards. If a person is concerned about overdue utility payments, hang up and call the listed phone number for the utility. That same technique can be used to verify whether a person has a warrant or overdue fine.

Colvin encouraged people to have conservations with elderly parents, friends, neighbors and community members about avoiding falling for scams.

“Let’s protect each other,” she wrote.

Comments