A Reminder on Phone Scams

Over the weekend, a citizen in Dalton got a phone call telling her she'd just won 2.5 million dollars.  The only catch: she had to wire the caller $200.00 in fees to collect the prize.  Fortunately, this citizen didn't take the bait.

In this case, reported to the Dalton Police Department on Monday, the citizen didn't take the bait.  At 7:00 AM on Saturday, the citizen got a call from a phone number with an 876 area code.  The caller, speaking with a foreign accent and identifying himself as Daniel Blackwell, told her she'd won a prize of $2.5 million, and that all she had to do to collect was wire the caller $195.00 via Western Union.  She said no.

Later, she received a second phone call from the same number.  This caller, also with a foreign accent but identifying himself as Michael Blackwell, repeated the same pitch.  Again, the citizen wisely turned it down.

A third caller, this time from a different 876-area code number, again said she'd won the $2.5 million, but this time the cost for claiming the prize had gone up to $499.00.  The caller identified himself as Richard Reid representing the Rosenburg Law Firm in Michigan.  Again, the citizen said she wasn't interested.

When a Dalton Police officer investigated the numbers found on caller ID, he found that they were based in Jamaica.

This isn't a new scam.  Some of the details of the pitch are different, but it's a good reminder to stay alert and cautious when people call your home or business.  Remember: when things seem too good to be true, they almost always are.  Never give out your social security, credit card, or other personal information to people who call you unsolicited.  Never agree to send money to someone in order to claim a prize (especially when it's a contest you didn't enter).  If you receive any calls like this one, report them to your local law enforcement agency.

Comments

[maribela]

Isn't this kind of common sense? Whatever happened to the adage "There is no such thing as a free luch"? Why then would someone think they won 2.5 million or any amount for that matter without doing any work for it?
Besides,no matter how many times warnings/reminders like these are issued,there will always be some ignoramus somewhere who falls for the scams because their greed got the better of them.
My point: Focus on other things not things anyone with an iota of intelligence and common sense should know by now. Then again,I'm too cynical for my own good.