The Riverton Police Department has reported that they have received numerous calls about phone scams.
RPD reminded residents to never give personal information out about yourself if you are unsure of who you are speaking with on the phone.
The full statement is listed below in bold, and for more from the Riverton Police follow their Facebook page.
We’ve had a few active scams reported to us within the last week. Please make note of them and always use extreme caution when giving anyone any details about yourself. Never be afraid to research and call any agency or organization using verified contact information, often available on an agency, or city website before making any personal financial decision.
The first scenario is a collection agency calling on behalf of a hospital for a medical procedure from years ago. Luckily the woman who reported this scenario, was immediately suspicious of the procedure the collection agency provided her with, even though she did have medical work done for the dates they specified. She was able to go through her records and verify that she was never seen by the specific doctor’s office for the procedure that they were portraying themselves to be representing.
The second is an “agent” of the government; in this case, DEA calling to state that the victim’s name was discovered on multiple documents in the search of an apartment, resulting in an investigation of the victim. The gentleman became suspicious when the agent started asking for personal information such as his social security number. This has also been seen quite a bit in email form, usually in the form of an “agent” demanding a money payment to halt an investigation, if you receive any such demand, feel free to ignore it.
Unfortunately, we are also seeing a reemergence of the “grandparent scheme.” This targets the elderly and often uses recordings or gender, specific actors, pretending to be a grandchild or child in danger of being arrested. A “public defender” gets on the phone and states an amount of money mailed immediately will keep your family member out of jail. Please remember that you can ALWAYS call either your family members or the authorities in any county and ask for basic information to help you determine if a scenario is accurate or not. Any bond will always be addressed by a court, and will never be sent to a specific person at a non-verified address. Please remind your elderly family to contact other family members or us if they feel unsure about a situation in which money is being demanded.
It is unfortunate that while technology advances these schemes are also becoming escalating and becoming rampant. Please use caution, do not hesitate to call us, or your financial institution if something feels “off” about demand for money that you have received. Many of the victims we speak to make specific statements of red flags that they knew they shouldn’t have ignored such as illogical locations, “gag” orders, the representatives or agents becoming immediately rude or belligerent at any verifying questions, and any monetary demand that must be met immediately.