Scammers keep on scamming

Perkins County Sheriff Jim Brueggeman said his office receives at least a call a day whether the phone call, email or prize letter the person received is legitimate. 

The easy answer—no, they’re not. 

While scammers particularly target the elderly, Brueggeman said he gets call from people of all ages. 

His first piece of advice when people get unsolicited phone calls—never give out any personal information. That includes social security numbers, credit cards, bank account numbers, etc.

Scammers prey on people’s emotions and fears, especially the elderly.

Brueggeman said a frequent scam his office is notified about is telling an elderly person their grandson or granddaughter is in jail somewhere. The only way to get them out is to send money or gift cards.

A frequent email he sees is one where the scammer has obtained the name and email of someone the recipient knows. 

It says their acquaintance is stranded somewhere and needs money to get home. 

A recent variant of that played on COVID-19. 

An Imperial businessman had his website and email account hacked several years ago. 

Recently, people on his contact list started getting emails stating the businessman was suffering from COVID and asked them to help out his nephew. 

He said friends called him to ask how we was, since he was suffering from COVID. Most of the recipients dismissed the email but several people sent some money to the address suggested. 

Tony Kempf, owner of Deaver Computer Service, said unsuspecting computer users get a pop-up that their computer has a virus and to click through to have their computer cleaned up.

In some cases, the game is to get $500 or more for cleaning up the computer. Other times, the scammer loads a virus on the computer and locks it down until the computer owner pays a “ransom” to get it opened back up. 

He said he’s able to help people in that situation and urges them not to pay any money to the scammers. 

Kempf said there’s Amazon scammers who call and identify themselves as being from Amazon and then inquire about a recent purchase. What they’re really phishing for, Kempf said, is a person’s Amazon user name and password that the scammers use to buy goods off Amazon.

Social Security Scams

The Social Security Administrations warns people that it is unlikely they call people unless someone has ongoing business with them. 

They advised that one common tactic scammers use is posing as federal agents and other law enforcement. They may claim the person’s Social Security number is linked to a crime. They may even threaten to arrest them if they do not comply with their instructions.

A recent tactic in the State of Nebraska involves scammers calling people to say their social security number has been compromised in a particular state, such as Texas and they ask for personally identifying information to resolve the issue.

There are a few ways you can identify a scam call or email. Remember that Social Security will never:

• Threaten a person with benefit suspension, arrest, or other legal action unless they pay a fine or fee.

• Promise a benefit increase or other assistance in exchange for payment.

• Require payment by retail gift card, cash, wire transfer, internet currency, or prepaid debit card.

• Demand secrecy to handle a Social Security-related problem.

• Send official letters or reports containing personally identifiable information via email.

The Social Security Administration also warns that checking the caller ID of the phone call is not enough to verify the call is safe, as many scam calls “spoof” official government numbers, such as the SSA’s National 800 Number, the Social Security Fraud Hotline, local Social Security field offices, SSA press offices or even local police numbers.

Imposters may also use legitimate names and phone numbers of SSA employees.

If the caller demands sensitive personal information, payment via gift card, pre-paid debit card or wire transfer, or if the caller makes threats when you do not comply with their request, it is a scam.

People receiving a suspicious call claiming to be from Social Security, hang up the phone right away without providing the caller with any personal information and report the call right away to the Office of the Inspector General at oig.ssa.gov. 

Phone scammers may also offer to send official letters or reports by email to convince people they are legitimate government employees. The SSA advises  to not believe this trick.

The letters may appear to be from Social Security or Social Security OIG, with official letterhead and government “jargon.” They may also contain misspellings and typos.

Examples of fake documents scammers may use can be found at oig.ssa.gov/scam.

Top Scams of 2020

The Federal Trade Commission said they “had their hands full” last year with all of the scams that come along with a regular year, plus new scams related to COVID-19.

In 2020, the FTC got more than 2.2 million reports about fraud, with people reporting to the FTC that they lost nearly $3.3 billion.

The top fraud of 2020 was imposter scams. The scammers wore many different hats — from that of a government official, to a known business to even a dear family member or friend.

Imposter scams involve a dishonest person convincing someone to send money for one reason or another, whether it be to bail someone out of jail, pay the “IRS” what they claim is owed, or any other number of reasons.

To read the full story, subscribe by calling the Tribune at 308-352-4311 or sign up for an e-edition by clicking here.