Attempted Fraud and Criminal Impersonation (Identify Theft)

DATE & TIME: 01-10-2017 through 01-18-2017      

LOCATION: Wymore and Pickrell  

OFFENSE: Attempted Fraud and Criminal Impersonation (Identity Theft)           

CASE #: 2017-0288 and 2017-0303     

The Gage County Sheriff’s Office has taken two separate reports for fraudulent activity recently. 

In the first case, a citizen in Wymore reported a friend on Facebook had attempted to obtain his personal financial information in order to get thousands of dollars from the federal government.  Both the Gage County Sheriff’s Office and the Wymore Police Department were involved in the case and concluded the incident was an attempt to defraud the Wymore resident.  This case is very similar to many other Facebook incidents where a person’s Facebook account is accessed by an unauthorized person, who then attempts to gain the confidence of the Facebook friends and obtain their personal financial information.  The resident did not provide any information to this person and did not suffer any financial loss.

A Pickrell area resident called the Gage County Sheriff’s Office to report an unknown person had opened a credit card in his name.  He had been notified by a credit monitoring agency about the new account and had them close the account without any charges being made to the account.  He said the U.S. Postal Service also sent him notification to verify if he had requested a change of address with them.  He states he did not and does not intend to move.  He states his personal financial information had been obtained from a federal government agency last year and he has been monitoring his financial information since then.

The Pickrell area resident was directed to also go to the Gage County Sheriff’s Office website at http://www.gagecountysheriff.us/, where he could find a link to the Federal Trade Commission for additional reporting options and forms to assist in dealing with identity theft issues.Residents are urged to use caution when dealing with online personal and financial issues and to contact the Gage County Sheriff’s Office if they believe they are victims of a fraud or identity theft violation.

Sheriff Millard “Gus” Gustafson #903

Investigator T. Hanson #90310