Marathon County Public Information Officer Warns of Scam

Tuesday, August 23rd, 2022 -- 11:00 AM

(Mike Leischner, WSAU) -A new scam is targeting Marathon County residents, and Public Information Officer Sarah Severson says they are continuing to get creative to get you to turn over sensitive information.

"The person does have some information on them, the scammer does, and they're able to provide the call recipient's first and last name. And then instructs them to gather some information and call a phone number."

The number may appear local- starting with a 715 area code, but she says you won't find a county employee on the other end.

"And so the scammer instructs them to call that phone number to provide the requested information, but that number is not the phone number of the Sheriff's Office."

Severson says the person you get when you call the number won't be a county employee, and they will be pushy about getting your personal data.

"And if that individual says 'you need to get that information right now' that certainly would be a red flag."

Severson says your best line of defense will be to ask for the callers name and phone extension, then check it against the county's online phone directory yourself:

"And so you can look up that indivdual's name, verify their department, and then see what their actual listed phone number is to see if those numbers match."

She says legitimate county employees will not take offense if you request to end a call and call them back directly to verify that you aren't being scammed- because by initiating the call on your know the call will go to a county employee and not someone who's spoofing a local number.

Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.