Sanborn County Sheriff Tom Fridley reported that the Sheriff’s Office is investigating two more cases where elderly residents of Sanborn County fell victim to telephone scams recently, losing significant amounts of money. Sheriff Fridley wants to inform everyone how they can protect themselves from these scams with the following information from the South Dakota Sheriff’s Association.

“We may have entered the digital age, but the telephone remains a key weapon in scammers’ arsenals. Once they get you on the line, phone scammers use false promises, aggressive sales pitches and phony threats to pry loose information they can use to steal your money or identity (or both).

Estimates show that some fifty-nine million Americans lost money to a phone scam in the previous 12 months. According to FTC data, the median loss in scams starting with a call is $1,200, higher than any other contact method.

Technology has made this illicit work easy. With auto-dialers, shady operators can blast out robocalls by the millions for just a few dollars daily. Readily available spoofing tools can trick your caller ID into displaying a genuine government or corporate number or one that appears to be local to increase your chances of answering.

Whether live or automated, scam callers often pose as representatives of government agencies or familiar tech, travel, retail or financial companies, supposedly calling with valuable information. It might be good news, such as a cash prize or discount. Or it might be bad news such as owing back taxes or a problem with your credit card. The topics used by scammers are endless.

…Read on in this week’s issue of the Sanborn Weekly Journal!