Con artists are targeting Midlanders

When her cell phone rang on Tuesday, the caller ID said the Richland County Sheriff’s Department was calling but what the 66-year-old Cayce resident heard next gave her pause.

The male caller told her that she failed to show up for two federal court appearances and now owed two payments of $495 each, Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said in a news release.

Something didn’t sound right and she demanded to talk to a supervisor, sheriff’s department spokesman Curtis Wilson said. A second male picked up and confirmed that she needed to pay the fines, which she could do by purchasing prepaid credit cards, or what are known as Green Dot cards. These cards can be bought at retailers nationwide including her local CVS pharmacy. She arranged a callback time to give the caller the prepaid card codes (which would allow him to get the money), hung up and called the sheriff’s department.

Not knowing if this was a long distance scam or a local scammer, Richland County Sheriff’s investigators arranged to meet the potential victim at the CVS. When the second call came in, at the their suggestion, she tried to convince the caller to come get the cards. Eventually, a deputy took over the call , identified himself, and the scam artist hung up.

“No law enforcement agency will ask you for money for any fines you may owe; we will not call your home and threaten you with jail time for outstanding warrants if you don’t pay,” Sheriff Lott said.

Despite widespread reporting about such scams, the flimflammers keep trying, changing their stories, perfecting their ruse. And people sometimes fall for it making periodic warnings like the release issued Friday necessary, Wilson said.

If you get a call on your land line or cell phone like the one received in Cayce on Tuesday, hang up and call the Sheriff’s Department, Lott said.