PICKENS COUNTY - The Pickens County Sheriff’s Office continues to receive complaints from citizens who receive telephone calls from “scammers” telling them they have lottery winnings or some prize winnings such as money or a luxury vehicle. In order to claim the “winnings”, the caller entices the victim to send a “processing fee” or “pay taxes” or some other fee. Many of these calls originate from Jamaica or other country. Most of these victims are in the later years of life and tend to be the prime target of scammers.

Sheriff Stone warns, “if you receive a call from an unfamiliar area code, verify the location of the area code through Google or www.consumer.att.com. Even calling the number back if it’s out of the country can be an expensive scam with little or no recourse to get your money back. Never send money or give our any personal formation without knowing who you are dealing with. The best policy is don’t answer the phone if you don’t recognize the number, let them leave a message.”

Sheriff Stone says, “the old sayings that nothing in life is free and if it’s too good to be true then its probably not true, are good advise for all of us. There are as many ways for scammers to try to get your money as there are people. Keep reminding your loved ones and neighbors who are elderly to always be aware and contact a family member or law enforcement if uncertain before letting go of their hard earned money.”