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Community Alerts and Press Releases |
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IF YOU DON’T SEE ANYTHING ON THIS PAGE, RELAX! … IT’S PROBABLY BEEN A PRETTY GOOD DAY!
_______________________________________________________________ PHONY MONEY - 05-16-2024
Recently, the DeMotte Police Department has taken reports from two businesses within town that
were given fake $100 dollar bills. Please pay attention to the
bills you are receiving during the course of business. The
bills are clearly marked with warnings indicating that they are fake
bills. To see an example of these bills, please click the links
below.
_______________________________________________________________ Some Older But Still Important Messages From The Chief of Police Scam Alerts! To Our Town Residents, We
have been receiving numerous phone calls and correspondence from you
regarding scam type events. I thought passing on some information here
could assist you. Some examples of current trends are listed below. Almost
every scam requires you to do one thing to get started; and that is to
divulge personal information about yourself. This includes just
confirming information what they may have already been able to gain
from other sources. If you practice one rule: never confirm information or provide information to someone you didn’t initiate contact with, you will have defeated most scams. They are counting on you to do just the opposite. Hope this helps a bit… ______________________________________________________________ IRS Scams: These types of scams can be initiated over the phone or through mail, both by letters delivered to your home or computer based email. The letters or phone calls may look or sound official and may indicate that you owe money or are owed money. They will attempt to get you to provide financial information regarding your bank accounts, social security numbers etc. Legitimate IRS communications can be confirmed by going to links provided at the IRS website located at http://www.irs.gov. You can contact the IRS about a letter received, by following the appropriate link. Below is some information copied from their website. Remember not to dismiss all paperwork as a possible scam. If the letter bears an official type IRS logo, open the letter and verify that you are being directed to a resource at IRS.gov. Disregarding an official notice could cause serious problems in the future. From the Internal Revenue Service Website
Computer Repair and Warranty Scams The
caller tells you that they are a representative of Dell, HP, Compac,
IBM, or Apple and they are calling to update your computer due to a
virus or other general security matter. Simply
tell them you don’t have the internet or a computer. Do not confirm who
you are. Note their phone number if you have caller ID. When you see
this number again don’t answer. The numbers are usually blocked or are
web based numbers and the calls are generally coming from overseas. If
you mistakenly confirm that you do have a computer first, then do not
allow them to have remote access, do not tell them who your service
provider is, do not give them credit card information for a fee needed
to “diagnose your computer”. Just tell them you are not interested and
hang up. If you are getting persistent calls from the same number, call
your phone provider and tell them the type of call you are receiving
and see if they can block this number for you. If
you think you have a virus-infected computer, contact one of the local
computer shops in town. Never deal with a person over the phone, unless
you called them. Your Number Was Left On My Windshield, Car Crash Scam You
get a phone call from a person, who says their car was just struck in
the parking lot while they were away from the car. When they got back
to the car, your phone number was left on the car saying you had struck
them. They will then try to get personal information, insurance
information, or try to get you to initiate a payment outside of
insurance to settle the matter. If you know
that you didn’t hit anyone, tell them that you are going to call the
police department and speak to us with them about the phone call you
just received and hang up. If you think it is possible that a family
member has a car away from home and they could have left this note
legitimately, tell them you will do some checking and call your family
member. If your family member did not leave the note, do not call the
number back. If they call you again, tell them that you are going to
call the police department and speak to us about the phone call you
just received and hang up. In both cases call your local police
department and let them know that you received a call and have them log
the information. That way if an outside jurisdiction should call, they
can be notified that you tried to do the right thing. Your Relative Is In Jail, Bond Scam
“eBay” or Other Sale Site Scam These
usually occur when you have an article for sale. An over enthusiastic
buyer will contact you and either through conversation or out of his
own volition will send a check for the item, with a grossly over the
sale price, check or money order. They will assure you that you can
cash it. You do, and then the instructions start, ship this, send money
here, etc.
Rarely,
but sometimes, these online sales include; items that may have been the
subject of theft prior to being posted for sale. If you have any
questions about an item’s validity, bring the physical item to the
police department. We will check the serial numbers on the item for you
to determine if they have been reported stolen. We will not check
numbers for you over the phone without being able to seize the item if
it is stolen… and we will be required to seize the item. If there is to
be an exchange of property (not shipped), and you are uncomfortable
with this, have the person meet you at our police department parking
lot for the exchange. Out of Country Bank Deposits NO
ONE SENDS FREE MONEY! If you get an email, a phone call, a letter in
the mail with a check, it’s a scam. Don’t even think about getting
involved. Shred the check, hang up the phone, don’t open the email or
its attachments. These people will have you deposit the money and the
bait and switch will occur, as will the harassment and threats to
follow. Just stop this by never getting it started. Scammers
have been around since the dawn of man. They know that some people will
fall prey to their persuasive conversations. Don’t let it happen to
you. You don’t need to call the police department every time
someone tries to scam you… just when you let your guard down and may
have given out personal information inadvertently. Mistakes do happen.
Give us a call then. If
you believe the person who is perpetrating the scam lives in our town,
then by all means call us. Because scammers don’t stop when you don’t
participate. They keep on til they find someone who they can take
advantage of.
Chief Tom Jarrette ______________________________________________________________ God Bless America and Our Community! |
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“A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.” Dwight D. Eisenhower |
