Washington County Residents Need To Be Vigilant Against Scams

MARIETTA, OH — Scamming is an issue in Washington County. Crooks, often from other countries, using technology to reach into your home, to try to con you. Anyone can fall for their deceptive tricks, but Washington County’s Chief Sheriff’s Deputy, Mark Warden, says our seniors are most susceptible.

Live in Marietta? Click here to subscribe to our free breaking news alerts delivered to your inbox and mobile devices. Follow Marietta Patch on Facebook and Twitter, and download our free Patch mobile app on Android or iPhone

“One thing I really encourage is our seniors to reach out to us. If they ever have any questions about anyone calling them with regards to money. These are scammers. We ask that before you sit down and write a check or a money order, give us a call.”

Gift cards are big with scammers too. A study released this month by the Better Business Bureau shows that scams involving gift cards are on the rise. Scammers need to get money from you, and an easy way is to get you to buy a gift card, and just tell them the numbers on the back. The BBB says this money almost immediately goes into foreign bank accounts. Also, there’s almost no recourse. Gift cards don’t have the same protections that credit and debit cards have.

Make no mistake, scammers are skilled at getting you to give up your money. “If you get a scammer on the line and they’re good enough to talk you out of something or make you believe you have something they want or make you believe your grandchild is in custody. Maybe they make you believe you owe the IRS money, or that you’ve won some sort of lottery. There’s a number of different scams out there.”

There are a number of different scams out there, but unsolicited phone calls are big now. “These calls have morphed, you aren’t seeing these out of the area calls anymore. They’re using spoofed numbers so it looks like they’re local.” What this means for Washington County seniors is if you see a (740) area code, don’t trust it, it could easily be a scammer from another country.

Warden says to ask yourself one simple question when trying to figure out if someone’s trying to scam you. Is it too good to be true? If it sounds like it is, it probably is.

Warden says before you go out to Walmart to buy a gift card, “call your local jurisdiction, if it’s the Marietta Police Department, call them. Belpre? Call them. Simply give them a call and ask them about the situation.”

The message from the Washington County Sheriff’s Department to the victims and potential victims of a scam is to not feel ashamed or embarrassed, they see it a lot. “Unfortunately we usually find out when it’s too late.” Warden says if you are in the position where you have already sent the money, don’t be afraid to call them anyway. “If you’re in a position where you’re in an online relationship with someone and they keep asking for money, don’t be embarrassed to call and say ‘hey, I think I got myself in a situation.’ Give us a call.”

Warden says probably 95% of these calls come from overseas, but they have had success in tracking a few scammers down to places in the continental United States. They refer cases to prosecutors, so there hope in getting justice sometimes.

Warden says to simply hang up on them.

The Better Business Bureau also has a scam tracker, so if you're being targeted by a scammer, you can also report it on their site.

Have a news tip or suggestion on how I can improve Marietta Patch? Maybe you're interested in having your business become one of our latest sponsors? Email any and all inquiries to me at christopher.schmitt@patch.com