Fayette County Sheriff Keith Korenek and other agencies are raising awareness about scams that prey on the vulnerable. Along with the Social Security Administration and the Office of the Inspector General, as part of National Consumer Protection Week, agencies are letting people know that scams are becoming even more sophisticated and believable.
You get a call, email or text from the Social Security Office and you are told your benefits will end unless you pay up, or they say are from the IRS and you owe taxes, or you need to give them your Medicare number to get a new card. STOP. These are all scams. Governmental agencies won’t call, email or text and ask for money or personal information.
Don’t feel sad that you almost fell victim to a scam. Scammers target everyone and work on the amount of people they contact in hopes of just a few fall victim. You can recognize scammers. They pretend to be from an agency or organization that you may know and tell you there is a problem or a prize, and then they tell you you must pay or relinquish personal information to solve the problem or get the prize. The scammers will then instruct you to pay in a specific way. Trust your instincts.
