Locals receive fraudulent calls

Last Friday, Feb. 5, Kimball resident Jody Childress Hardin received a call that registered as Washington, D.C., on her caller I.D. The caller left a message on Hardin’s answering machine, requesting her to return a call to them.

When the woman called the 202-499-1557 number, she stated that a person with a heavy foreign accent informed her that they were with the Internal Revenue Service, and that she was in arrears on her taxes in the amount of $2,015.00. Furthermore, she was advised that if she were to not pay these right away that they would call our local sheriff and have her arrested.

Hardin tried to explain to the caller that within the last two previous years, she had withstood five heart surgeries, and was unable to work at this time – but, to no avail. She explained that after the experience she sought to find answers by calling the Kimball County Sheriff’s Office about the phone call she had received.

Hardin was reassured by Kimball County Sheriff’s Office that the call was a hoax and that several residents have received similar calls.

Kimball Police Chief Darren Huff said that unfortunately the targets of these calls are elderly, retired individuals.

“We do caution residents to never give out any information of a personal nature to the callers, such as social security numbers, bank account information or birth dates,” Huff said. “Sometimes the scammers will ask you to confirm account information. That is just another tactic to get you to tell them your account information. Don’t do it! Not even your banking institutions will ask you for personal or account information over the phone.”

The Kimball Sheriff’s Office would like to remind all residents to not give any personal information out over the phone and to not pay any supposed bills, fines or back taxes over the phone. If you have any suspicions that the phone call might be fraudulent, call the local authorities, as it just may be fraud.

“We get maybe two or three phone calls from residents a month,” Kimball County Sheriff Harry Gillway said, “but it’s been as high as six to eight.”

“Increasingly, we are receiving complaints of people claiming to be from the IRS and demanding payment for back taxes.” Gillway added, “They are told to pay up now or a warrant will be issued for their arrest. Sometimes the caller will claim the Sheriff will be coming to their house to arrest them that same day if they don’t pay the alleged tax. This scam has been used throughout the country to tens of thousands of people. The task of going after these people is mired in international jurisdictions and the sheer number of complaints. Everyone from local police agencies to just about every federal law enforcement agency has investigated these complaints with very, very little success, unfortunately. The best thing to do when a person receives these calls is to hang up and if they call back and threaten again and again hang up!”

Huff added that telemarketers are governed by federal laws. For instance, they are only allowed to call between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. in your time zone.

“And you have the right to tell them not to call you anymore, in which case they are supposed to stop,” Huff said. “If they persist to call you then it is more than likely a phone scam and you are being targeted. You should get as much information about the call as you can and notify The Nebraska Attorney General’s office. They have an online reporting process that is very easy to use.”

Some things to be aware of:

These scammers do this as their living… often times they are contacting you from a foreign country that has no extradition treaty with United States, so it is very difficult to prosecute them and they know this.

They will pressure you and attempt to use fast talk tactics to hook you. You should never feel pressured when making a decision about your finances. So tell the caller, “what’s the hurry?” Tell them that you want to research their charity, company, prize organization, or whatever they are trying to pedal on you.

If you won some prizes, and it’s free, then question them on the “hidden fees.” these scammers will often tell you, you are responsible to pay the taxes or the fees related to getting the prizes to you. They will want you to Western Union money to them or even send the funds via money gram. If that is the case, then the whole thing is a scam.

If you receive a check in the mail as a prize, make sure it is real before you spend any of the money. You are responsible for every penny that you receive from your banking institution. If the check or money order is fake and it’s not caught until later, you will be pretty upset when the FBI is telling you you have to pay it all back or face criminal charges.