Bay County Officials warn of scammers

BAY COUNTY, Fla. (WJHG/WECP) - Bay County officials have issued a scam alert following new and improved scam techniques.

Bay County Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Ruth Corley says scammers are getting more sophisticated.

“Before we would get a lot of reports about scammers calling or sending an email informing someone, they’ve won a lottery and all they had to do was pay the taxes on two million dollars and they’d be sent two million dollars. That was pretty generic,” Corley said. “Now they are studying people’s social media pages so they can figure out these are you grandparents. You got grandkids. So, they can call you and say ‘this is your grandson I’m on a trip and I’m in jail. help me send me money.’”

People are being victimized every day by scammers and it can happen to anyone.

“Sometimes they do random numbers over and over until somebody answers and if you answer they think they may have a victim and so they’re going to start trying to con you,” Corley said.

Officials say being informed and knowing the red flags are the best ways to stay protected.

“They (scammers) all basically do the same thing. They want to notify you maybe about someone you care about or yourself facing arrest of facing utilities being turned off. It all boils down to this instilling anxiety and fear so you don’t think quite so clearly and critically so you don’t fall victim to that,” Corley said.

So, if you find yourself on the phone with a suspected scammer don’t panic and hang up.

“The courthouse is not going to call you. The Bay County Sheriff’s Office,” Corley said. “Any city police department is not going to call you and say buy gift cards and you can avoid arrest. We will never ever do that.”

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