Sheriff Warns of Current Scams on the North Coast

Humboldt Co. Press Release:

The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office continues to receive reports of Fraudulent Scams.

On 04-5-2013, approximately 10:00 a.m. a Eureka citizen reported she was contacted by E-Mail asking if she wanted to use her vehicle to advertise Monster Energy Drinks. The E-mail inferred it was from Monster Corporate Office and she would receive money by having her car wrapped with the Monster Energy Drink advertisement. The citizen thought she was communicating with Monster Cooperate Office. The E-Mailer stated she was being sent a check to pay her to advertise and for the advertisement wrap. The citizen was to cash the check, keep $300.00, and then send $1,400.00 by Western Union to a graphic designer in North Las Vegas. The citizen received the check by United Parcel Service on 04-04-2013 from a person in Florida. The citizen took the check to her bank to deposit it and was informed by the bank the check she received for $1,950.00 was a fraudulent check. The bank informed the investigating deputy this was the second fraudulent check regarding car wraps they had recently received.

Another citizen recently reported receiving an official looking money order mailed to his home with instructions on what to do with the money order. The money order was to be deposited in the citizen’s bank account and the citizen was allowed to keep $150.00 from the money order which had a face value of $985.00. It was supposed to be part of a “Secret Shopper Program” evaluating Postal Money Order service. The citizen was to take the remaining money from their bank account and send it to another person.

In another scam a citizen reported getting phone calls stating they won the Publishers Clearing house and they were to send money to collect their winnings which had a processing and shipping charge. The citizen realized it was fraud and reported it to the Sheriff’s Office.

These are just a few examples of the types of fraudulent scams that have recently occurred.

Scams can contain the following:

  • Alarmist messages and threats of account closures.

  • Promises of money for little or no effort.

  • Deals that sound too good to be true.

  • Requests to donate to a charitable organization after a disaster that has been in the news.

  • Bad grammar and misspellings.

 

Information and reporting Websites:

http://www.fbi.gov/scams-safety/fraud/internet_fraud

 

http://www.microsoft.com/security/online-privacy/phishing-scams.aspx

 

http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0076-telemarketing-scams

 

If you receive any suspicious phone calls or mail that you suspect as being a scam, contact your local law enforcement agency.

 

 

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