Phone Scammers Target Macon County Residents

By Jessie Williams 

The Macon County Sheriff’s Department has recently received information concerning several phone scams that have occurred in Macon County, and would like to make residents aware in the event they are targeted. 

 

The first type of scam involves individuals calling and claiming to be employees of the IRS. These scammers claim that their victims owe past taxes and if they don’t pay a certain amount, they will be arrested.

The second type of phone scam reported to authorities involves people claiming to be from the US Marshals office. These people will declare they have a warrant for your arrest and request that you meet them at a certain location with a certain amount of money. 

The third, and most widely used scam, involves scammers claiming to be with the Social Security Administration. These callers will tell victims that their Social Security numbers have been suspended and will then ask you to give/verify your personal information.

The Macon County Sheriff’s Department would like to inform Macon County residents that none of these federal agencies will contact you via telephone. Any communications from them usually comes through certified mail. 

Spoofing programs also allow scammers, who are often calling from other countries, to appear to be calling from a local phone number. 

Authorities also believe senior citizens are the biggest targets of these scams.

“Do not give out any personal information over the phone,” said detective Kevin Templeton. “If you have given out personal information and feel like it might have been a scam, contact us and the credit bureau to set up fraud alerts on your accounts.”