Just in case you were wondering – no a day hasn’t gone by without some con artist trying to rip off someone in Cherokee County, and everywhere else for that matter.   We’ve actually had a number of calls already this week –with the most interesting featuring a couple of slightly different “twists”.  These just keep getting more bizarre – one involved a crook aka scammer who claimed to be with Walmart, which of course he wasn’t, saying our lucky resident had just won $5.5 million for “paying his bills on time.”  (pause)  Yeah, we didn’t get that one either. 

Anyway, they said they’d deliver the prize money later that day, in person – and that he, the caller, “Larry Jones”, and you can trust him, cause he’s giving you his name – will personally be the one to come to your front door – BUT – you must first pay a little ‘ol processing fee in the amount of $200.  Is your credit card handy?  No, it’s not.

Next scam, and this one is potentially a bit more frightening – someone claiming to be with the Social Security Administration called one of our local residents and told them their account had been “flagged” and warrants would be issued for their arrest. 

The person reporting this to us said he just hung up because he knew it was a scam, and no doubt the con artist was going to try and extort money from that potential victim to “settle” the matter by taking a payment over the phone.  Again – just fishing for a credit/debit card and/or bank account number or failing that, a “Green Dot” card payment. 

First scam attempt – just plain STUPID from start to finish – and the second scam attempt – well, the Social Security Administration just doesn’t work that way.

Think before you act. 

When you receive any calls such as these – HANG UP – and if you still have any questions, it will take just a few minutes to contact the company yourself and make a report.  Remember – when YOU make the call, you know who you’re speaking with; when they call you, it could be ANYBODY.