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The traditional wave of scams are circulating through the area again as the holiday season reaches its peak.

According to McMinn County Sheriff Joe Guy, scams have been circulating through the area through phone calls, texts, e-mail and possibly other outlets of communication that seem to mostly follow the traditional pattern that has become mundane and noticeable.

“We are still seeing a lot of scams through offering money or claiming that somebody has won a prize and things of that nature and a lot of elderly people are getting phone calls of the same type of scams,” Guy noted. “We are now seeing some phone calls that are kind of threatening in nature, claiming that people have missed jury duty or claim there is some kind of criminal charge against them saying that they can satisfy the charges by paying an online fine.”

Guy stated that any such call can be immediately labeled as a scam because the justice system would not charge people money over the phone or online.

“If you give in once then they will call back repeatedly because they believe they will be able to talk you into something else,” he noted. “Anytime something doesn’t sound right or anytime that you are being offered money but on the condition of you having to pay money, then you know it is a scam. If you are suspicious of a call then call your local police or sheriff’s department and get their opinion on it because we can tell you in a few minutes if it is a scam or not.”

Guy stated the best way to combat the scam communications is to hang up the phone or delete the texts, e-mail, etc. from the scammer.

“Don’t open e-mails or messages from people you don’t know and if you get a phone call just hang up,” he stated. “If they keep calling back just block the number because they use apps to make the phone call untraceable. A lot of these things come from other countries so it’s hard to track them, but the best defense is awareness. So watch out for elderly family members about these things and just warn people.”

Guy noted a unique trait about the scams showing that they target specific locations.

“We will see the same type of scams, such as Publisher’s Clearing House or the IRS scam which we will get several reports on those for a bit and then suddenly it starts appearing in another part of Tennessee or in north Georgia instead,” he said. “They target particular zip codes or area codes, call people and then move on to somewhere else. It’s no worse or less than anywhere else in the country but there is a constant cycle of calls and e-mails going out.”

Guy noted that even he has received e-mails from people in an attempt to scam him.

“I have some e-mails stating that someone had died and wants to donate $3 million to me and of course that is a scam,” he expressed. “I don’t know this person and I have no connection to them, so clearly they are trying to scam me but sadly I’ve seen people lose upwards of $40,000 in these scams.”

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