Friday, March 29, 2024
HomeLiberty CountySheriff Rader Warns Against "Sophisticated Scam"

Sheriff Rader Warns Against “Sophisticated Scam”

 

There are a large number of various type “scams” circulating in society now with many of these hitting the Liberty County area all with the sole purpose of trying to con people out of their money. However, what appears to be a very elaborate and sophisticated scam came close to costing a local resident  $15,000 but was stopped it it’s tracks by a very alert and knowledgeable family member of the victim who recognized the scam for what it was.

Earlier this week, a local citizen received seven telephone calls on her home phone in a time span of five to six hours. The caller , who’s voice sounded exactly like her Grandson and identified himself by his name, told her that he had been driving a friend’s car and had a wreck and that a bottle of drugs were found in the back seat. The caller went on to say that “this” lawyer, a name was not given, was going to help him but that she would have to send them $15,000 and in addition, she could not tell anyone which included another family member who’s name was given to her.  The “Grandson” said the Judge did not want to damage his reputation nor damage his chances of gaining his chosen career field in college so the Judge entered a gag order on his case.

Later, another caller who gave the name of Richard Banks at telephone number (250) 271-0980 instructed the target victim to take the $15,000 to the City of Humble and Fed-X the money to a person by the name of Lauren Campbell at 2805 Farragut, Brooklyn, New York, 11210. When the victim told the caller she did not drive he then gave her the telephone number of the Fed-X business in Humble and instructed her to call them, set up an account so Fed-X could pick up the money that day.

It was a short while later that a family member dropped by to visit the victim and immediately recognized that the entire scenario was a scam and stopped the transaction before it could go any further. A telephone call to the family Grandson confirmed that he had not been in a wreck and was safe at school.

According to the family member, this scam attempt appeared to be very sophisticated, detailed and well planned as the “scam caller” knew the names of family members, knew the particular career field that the Grandson was studying and even had the voice print of the Grandson so even his own family members thought it was actually him. The family member went on to say that with modern technology and someone with some computer skills that getting a voice print and family details are not that difficult.

The Liberty County Sheriff’s Office is, again, warning the  public of not only this type of elaborate scam but the other type scams where a caller says he is from the IRS and the victim will be arrested if they do not mail in a certain amount of money or the other popular scam where the victim will be told that a warrant has been issued for their arrest for some type of violation and they must mail in a certain amount of money to settle the issue. Variations of these scams are created from time to time to sound authentic but anytime a caller wants you to mail them money, always be suspicious. Names and telephone numbers will be given but these are changed hourly and normally cannot be reached or traced to a specific location.

A good rule of thumb is if a person is in doubt of a call that sounds alarming is to contact a family member, a friend or your local law enforcement agency and discuss the call with them. In addition, if any caller tells you to mail them money for any reason, this should raise a “red flag” and should be considered a scam call.

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