DARLINGTON - The Lafayette County Sheriff is again warning residents not to fall for financial scams, after two more were recently reported.
"If you haven't entered a sweepstakes, then the offers of giant-sized cash rewards are not realistic," Sheriff Scott Pedley cautioned in a news release this week.
"Once again, if it seems too good to be true, then it probably is," he said.
Scammers targeting Lafayette County residents have successfully extorted tens of thousands of dollars, "with no way for law enforcement to track the scammers, who are oftentimes actually doing business beyond international boundaries and are out of the reach of United States law enforcement authorities," he said.
Two scam attempts recently reported to the sheriff's department were foiled when the targeted residents got suspicious.
A Darlington man reported being contacted by a person claiming to be with Microsoft. The person told him his computer had been sending error messages to Microsoft and, for a fee of $250, the computer could be repaired via online means.
"Our resident wisely did not go along with the scam and reported it to my office so that others could be warned of this type of scam," Pedley said.
Microsoft is aware of such scams and has safety and security tips on its website at microsoftonline.com/security.
Another recent scam was reported by a Belmont resident. He reported receiving a check in the mail from "Coast Capital Financial Services," which purports to be located in Los Angeles.
The scammer "stated that our resident had won $335,000 in an international sweepstakes," but needed to pay a $3,850 "processing fee" to claim the winnings, Pedley said.
In such cases, the check is later found to be invalid and the scam victim is out the money.
- Katjusa Cisar
"If you haven't entered a sweepstakes, then the offers of giant-sized cash rewards are not realistic," Sheriff Scott Pedley cautioned in a news release this week.
"Once again, if it seems too good to be true, then it probably is," he said.
Scammers targeting Lafayette County residents have successfully extorted tens of thousands of dollars, "with no way for law enforcement to track the scammers, who are oftentimes actually doing business beyond international boundaries and are out of the reach of United States law enforcement authorities," he said.
Two scam attempts recently reported to the sheriff's department were foiled when the targeted residents got suspicious.
A Darlington man reported being contacted by a person claiming to be with Microsoft. The person told him his computer had been sending error messages to Microsoft and, for a fee of $250, the computer could be repaired via online means.
"Our resident wisely did not go along with the scam and reported it to my office so that others could be warned of this type of scam," Pedley said.
Microsoft is aware of such scams and has safety and security tips on its website at microsoftonline.com/security.
Another recent scam was reported by a Belmont resident. He reported receiving a check in the mail from "Coast Capital Financial Services," which purports to be located in Los Angeles.
The scammer "stated that our resident had won $335,000 in an international sweepstakes," but needed to pay a $3,850 "processing fee" to claim the winnings, Pedley said.
In such cases, the check is later found to be invalid and the scam victim is out the money.
- Katjusa Cisar