Clark County Sheriff's Department Warns County Residents of Phone and Internet Scams
Friday, January 13th, 2017 -- 9:09 AM
-The Clark County Sheriff’s Office has been receiving several reports from citizens regarding telephone and internet scams throughout the county within the last several months. Some of these con-artists sound very professional and have well thought out scams but are defrauding hundreds of people daily.Some of the telephone scams that have been reported to the Clark County Sheriff’s Office include:
1) Vehicle warranty calls (telemarketer asks if you still own a specific vehicle and then tries to sell you a vehicle warranty),
2) A person calls and tells you that they are part of your energy cooperative and informs you that your business owes money and if the money is not paid over the phone immediately your services will be disconnected and then has you or your business purchase Green Dot Money Paks with a credit card (The con-artists do research on your business)
3) A caller indicates that they are with a law enforcement agency, that there is a warrant for your arrest and you need you to pay over the phone or you will go to jail. (The Clark County Sheriff’s Office will never call and ask for any type of payment over the phone in fact it is against state statute to collect money anywhere other than a police department or a sheriff’s office or a public building.)
If a phone number is supplied to you, please do a search on the internet and you may get information about it being a scam. If you think that it is a scam hang up and never give credit card information out over of the telephone.
The Sheriff’s Office has also received several complaints from citizens of their loved ones being befriended on the internet and sending $1,000’s to people they have not met for a promise of a relationship. Please keep an eye on your loved ones as they may be victimized without even knowing it. In most of these scams the money is being transferred via money pak cards, itunes cards or fake Wells Fargo bank accounts.
These are actual scams that have been attempted in Clark County within the last several months. In one instance, one of our Detectives made phone contact with a scammer. They made it clear they will continue to try to scam people out of money and seemed to take great pride in it.
In the event that you, or anyone you know fall victim to any of these types of scams you should record the following information:
-Victim's name, address, telephone, and email
-Financial transaction information (e.g., account information, transaction date and amount, who received the money)
-Date and time of incident
-Subject's name, address, telephone, email, website, and IP address
-Email header(s)
-Any other relevant information you believe is necessary that may be relevant to that incident
If you believe that you or someone you know has been scammed or have received these types of scams, please contact your local law enforcement agency or the Clark County Sheriff’s Office at 800-743-2420. If you have been scammed over the internet, please contact the Federal Bureau of Investigation Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) at www.ic3.gov to file a report.
Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.