Scammers Targeting Overton Residents

The Overton County Sheriff’s Department said they are getting weekly and sometimes daily reports from residents getting scam calls.

Sheriff John Garrett said most people are aware of scam calls, until a new trend started. Garrett said a majority of the reports right now are from scammers pretending to be from the social security office, and they’re going after everyone.

“The victim in which they have called, they’re social security number has been compromised in a different state,” Garrett said. “Such as, and this is the call that I personally got, that my social security number had been compromised or used fraudulently in the state of Texas.”

Garrett said the most difficult part of following up on leads is that phone numbers are being spoofed by scammers outside of the United States. However, Garrett said when they get the report they send it to the federal level.

“You may receive a number and it show up on your caller ID and it will look like it’s a local number or could be a local number,” Garrett said. “When in all actuality, they’ve just spoofed the number and they’re probably sitting somewhere in the Middle East.”

Social Security scams are not the only ways people can be targeted. Garrett said trying to remember two things when someone is contacted, can help detect if it is a scam.

“If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is… Number two, if you didn’t call someone and ask for their services and someone is telling you that you’ve won something or their going to provide this at a discounted rate or a free rate, it’s too good to be true,” Garrett said. “More than likely it’s a scam, hang up the phone, do not give any personal information, end the call.”

He said if someone thinks they gave personal information to a scammer, there are ways to try and combat this.

“You might want to keep an eye on your credit report or file something with the Federal Credit Bureau,” Garrett said. “To keep an eye on your credit, just to make sure that someone doesn’t try to gain some credit cards in your name.”

Garrett said monitoring bank accounts is important if personal information has been given out. He said to remember that scam calls target everyone, not just senior citizens.