Gage County –towns, cities, villages, and rural residences

DATE & TIME: 03-21-2018 / 1500

LOCATION: Gage County –towns, cities, villages, and rural residences

OFFENSE: Fraud, Scams, Identity Theft

CASE #: N/A

The Gage County Sheriff’s Office would like to make the general public aware of a seeming increase in the number of scams, frauds, identity thefts, and other associated crimes.

Gage County residents have reported an increasing number of attempts at defrauding them, as well as frauds, criminally referred to as “theft by deception”, wherein they are contacted and led to believe they will receive a good or service from a suspect who obtains their financial information, credit information, or personal information, such as date of birth, address, or social security number, and proceed to make fraudulent charges or open credit accounts in the victim’s name. Other cases involve the actual withdrawal of money from the victim’s banking account, either through deception or by accessing the account without authorization.

Oftentimes, the suspects acquire the money, usually from several victims around the United States over a period of a few days, then close shop and move to another physical location, making detection and apprehension of the suspects more difficult. By the time a victim realizes they have been scammed, the suspect or suspects may have moved to several different locations.

The Gage County Sheriff’s Office urges residents to use caution when dealing with unknown or new contacts, whether via telephone, US mail, via the Internet, or in person.  Warning signs are:

1. The person calling does not know your information, but asks you to provide the information.

2. The suspect mispronounces words, such as the name of your city, the name of a business, or the name of who they are attempting to contact.

3. Being told the deal they are offering is on a limited time and action is needed immediately. Such pressure usually does not lead to a better deal, rather, if it is over the phone, Internet, or at your door, is method to get a victim to act prior to thinking about the situation or conferring with another person for advice.

4. If the suspect threatens you with arrest and/or you can avoid arrest by paying a fine.

5. Payment methods are conducted that do not conform to established business practices. Examples of this are asking you to make a payment via Wal-Mart to Wal-Mart payment, obtaining gift cards and providing that information to the suspect, paying in cash via the mail.

6. When the suspect asks for secrecy or pretends to be a family member, such as in the “Grandma/Grandpa” scam and state they do not want the family to find out, despite an arrest being a public record.

Use caution, do not keep issues a secret, contact a family member, trusted friend, or reputable professional, such as a banker for advice and immediately contact the local police department or call the Gage County Sheriff’s Office and ask to speak with an investigator. 

Sheriff Millard “Gus” Gustafson #903

Investigator T. Hanson #90310