Jeremy Ratliff
Editor
The holiday season is arguably a busy time of year for most anyone. Unfortunately, scam artists tend to be just as busy this time of year.
And like most any type of criminal activity, as enforcement and prevention efforts heighten and diversify, so do the efforts of scammers, in their plight to swindle their victims for thousands and sometimes tens of thousands of dollars.
Local law enforcement agencies are encouraging community members to be extra vigilant this holiday season, to help prevent and combat these efforts.
According to Merrill Police Department Liutenant Investigator Pat Wunsch, the evolution of scam artists and their various tactics has been relatively quick, and unfortunately, effective to some extent. However, through the evolution, the preferred method of delivery remains with cell phone calls and even text messaging.
“Phone calls has been the preferred method for these criminals since scamming really began to become a trend in the early 2000’s. While there are a wide variety of scam types out there and always have been, the key trend back then was phone calls from perpetrators in foreign countries targeting primarily elderly victims,” he explains.
“In most cases they would call and advise a loved one has been in an accident, is hospitalized, or even that a loved one has been arrested. The caller
then demands payment over the phone either via credit card or wire transfer for bail, hospital bills and so on. Unfortunately, they preyed on the vitim’s fear and concern, and that’s still the case to this day.”
That trend began to shift in the 2010’s to lottery-related scams, and has now evolved into prepaid debit cards being the preferred method of fraud. Tactics have now evolved into demand for payment to satisfy accused tax debts and even arrest warrants.
“They have definitely upped their game, not only in terms of their tactics but who they target. They will target anyone at any time; we’re seeing more and more victims of all ages,” Wunsch adds.
“Scammers have taken advantage of the advancements of technology to set up fake phone numbers online, commonly known as “spoofing.” To make their ploys more belieavable, their phone numbers often times will match that of the actual entity they’re claiming to be representing. Caller I.D displays can actually show up as “Internal Revenue Service,” for example.
“We had a local case not too long ago where the scammer was claiming to be calling from the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office and advising the victim he or she had an active warrant out for their arrest. The phone number actually populated as the correct phone number of the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office.”
Once their ploy-line is delivered, the scamming party in many cases will direct the caller to pick up a given number and type of pre-paid debit cards or gift cards, load a given amount of funds to the cards, and then give the card numbers to the scammer, over the phone.
“Once the funds are loaded to the card or cards and the card numbers are given out, the scammer immediately terminates the call and the victim has been swindled. We have seen cases where a single victim was out over $20,000 in one e transaction,” Wunsch adds.
The numbers of scam/fraud investigations reported by the Merrill Police Department leave little doubt as to the prevalence and severity of scam activities.In 2020 alone, MPD handled 62 investigations involving fraudulent activity, including 16 scams, with losses totaling $59,750. The losses range from $200 – $21,000 for each occurrence.
The breakdown of these scams include:
• Ten cases involving some sort of scheme where the victim is instructed to purchase an allotted amount of pre-paid debit or gift cards and the suspect immediately transfers those amount to the suspect’s account. These scams accounted for a loss of $15,250.
• Two cases involving bank wire transfers where the victim is instructed to send money utilizing their banks wire services. These
two scams accounted for $26,500 loss.
• Three cases involving wire transfers. (Western Union, Money Gram, etc.)
• One case involving the purchase of a vehicle for $17,000 where the suspect used a counterfeit check.
Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office Scam/Fraud investigations-
To date, the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office received 74 scam/fraud complaints, surpassing last year when the Sheriff’s Office received 47, and 49 in 2018. In total, 131 such complaints were received this year for all three agencies the Sheriff’s Office dispatches for, including the Merrill Police Department and part-time for the Tomahawk Police Department.
“Another tactic scammers will use, is sending in an overpayment for an item a potential may have for sale,” explains Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office Communications Supervisor, Lieutenant Tim Fischer.
“They will advise the victim to deposit the overpayment and send them the overage back with the item. For example, the potential victim is selling an item for $100, the scammer will send $1,200 and ask the seller to deposit the check and send the overpayment of $1,100 back to them. The check is fraudulent, and if cashed, the victim will be responsible for the full amount of the check and be out the money they sent back. “
*All complaints listed as forgery/ fraud by the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office are not necessarily scams, but that is the category in which they are filed under.
Prevention-
Lieutenants Fischer and Wunsch offer the following tips for scam prevention and avoiding becoming a scam victim.
“In this day and age, if something appears to be too good, or too bad to be true-especially on the phone-it most certainly is,” Wunsch adds.
• When in doubt, contact law enforcement.
• • If and when a warrant has been issued or money is owed to the IRS, you will not be contacted and asked for payment over the phone.
• Potential scammers may or may not have a foreign accent.
• Potential scammers may or may not be calling from a local landline or cell phone number.
The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office can be reached at (715) 536-6272.
The Merrill Police Department can be reached at (715) 536-8311.