Full Notification

On September 9, an incident was reported to Deputy Jon Carter involving a phone scam.
 
The victim received a voicemail from a person who claimed to be a Deputy Myers with McDowell County Sheriff’s Office. Upon returning the call, “Myers” advised the victim that they had 3 charges and an arrest warrant against her for missing federal jury duty and would need to handle the matter by paying a sum of money. The victim was instructed to stay on the phone with the caller while traveling to Ingles in Marion and depositing $4,500 into a BitCoin machine. Following that conversation, the victim was transferred to a “supervisor” who stated that an additional $4,500 would need to be paid since it was a first time offense. The victim informed the caller that she had arrived to the Sheriff’s Office, and once stating this, the caller hung up. When trying to reconnect the call, the phone number was no longer valid.
 
As a reminder, the Sheriff’s Office will not call you requesting money for any matter. They also will not call requesting bail money for anyone.
 
Here are a few tips to avoid being scammed:
 

• If you do receive a call from someone asking for money, and there is a concern of legitimacy, hang up and call your local law enforcement agency to run it by them.
• You may also ask the caller for a call-back number and advise them you will have local law enforcement call them back.
• If you have access to the internet, search the phone number of the caller. If that number is valid and linked to the bank, company, etc., the number will show online.

• Contact local law enforcement through non-emergency dispatch to make a report. You will likely need this report when contacting your bank. The McDowell County non-emergency dispatch number is (828) 652-4000.
• Contact your bank to inform them of the scam.
• Check with the 3 major credit bureaus (Exquifax, Experian and TransUnion) to find out if new lines of credit have shown up OR if someone is using your identity to make purchases.
• You can also report identity theft to the Federal Trade Commission online at IdenityTheft.gov or by phone at (877) 438-4338.