Rice County Warns Of Recent Phone Scams

RICE COUNTY, MN — The Rice County Sheriff's Office is warning residents throughout the county regarding reports of recent phone scams. "Just this morning, a citizen of Morristown received a phone call stating that her grandson had been arrested and she needed to forward money to someone to get him out of jail," authorities said Wednesday.

"This is just one of the many scams these people are using. They are also saying your owe money from an old credit card, from work done on your residence in the past or many other ideas. These are fraudulent."

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County officials provided the following tips to avoid being scammed:

• Do not give credit card or bank information over the phone
• Don’t rush down to send cashier’s check or a money order without confirming the story
• Contact your relative or the business that states that you owe them money
• Most companies will work with you if you do owe money to set up a payment plan
• The phone number being used will most likely not go back to the legitimate business
• Don’t let your emotions get the best of you and don’t let them strong arm you on the phone to give them your hard earned money

Image via Shutterstock / Sam72