A local woman recently reported to police that she received some suspicious text messages from a place claiming to be the federal court asking for money to keep her out of jail. After looking into the legitimacy of the claims she deciphered it was a scam. Other scams have also been reported, one being a claim that the recipient had won a monetary prize but needed to send cash in order to obtain the money. The other was someone claiming to be from the IRS threatening to put the person in jail due to back taxes owed in the amount of over $5,000. Do not respond to these or any thing similar, they are scams!
Unless you know the company you are dealing with and you called them, do not to give any information to anyone over the phone. No legitimate company will call or text you. Citizens should be aware that no Government agency will call you for the initial contact and all of the tax people or the IRS will send any information by the US Mail. Individuals should not to give out their bank numbers, routing numbers, phone numbers, or social security numbers to anyone they are unfamiliar with. When in doubt call the police.
If you find yourself in a similar situation, immediately hang up and directly contact the the company or organization the person is claiming to be from for verification. If the person persists with threats or unwarranted solicitation do not hesitate to get the law involved. You could potentially save, not just yourself, but also the next unsuspecting person from being scammed.
