Courtesy of the Pima County Sheriff’s Auxiliary Volunteers, who are thwarting cons by sharing their information on the latest scams to hit the Southern Arizona streets.
Apparently, the Scam Squad has been an effective deflective shield to consumers, which has invoked the wrath of the would-be-scammers. The Scam Squad has received e-mails with the subject line of: “The Scam Squad for Law Enforcement (Police or Sheriff) to deal with…” The Scam Squad is “delighted” to know the fraudsters are trying to annoy us, in the hopes that we will become frustrated with the deluge of scams to our web site.
The manager of the web site has asked me to emphasize the importance of ignoring these unknown, suspicious e-mails, and continue to delete them! We may have to develop a new site so that we may properly address the information that comes from the citizens. One of the submitted scams comes not only with official looking logos, but is actually attempting to use the identity of appointed officials and other department leaders to promote the fraud. One e-mail, a letter from Director Jack Lew, of the Department of Treasury, claims that he wants to give you unclaimed funds….or so the scam says.
The fraudsters are now using the identity of these department heads to make you believe they are actually verifiable so that when you “google” the site, or look up the department in your phone book, the letter sounds legitimate.
Remember, no government agency will email you, or send you a letter soliciting funds in order for you to receive money back from them. They will never ask you to confirm your birthdate or social security number in order to verify that you are the person they are seeking for this windfall fortune. If you were to look up the U.S. Department of Treasury, and find out that indeed, Jack Lew is the department head—-don’t stop there. Call the number in the phone book, or email the “googled” address (not the one given to you in the fraudsters e-mail) and ask if the department has money for you. Talk to someone who can advise you on the e-mail or letter you have received. With this correct information, the next e-mail you will delete!
The manager of the Scam Squad e-mail account requests that you do not forward the original e-mail to the Scam Squad, but a synopsis (or summary) of the scam you received. The original may carry a virus along with it that can infect other computers. We appreciate all information and feed back to warn your neighbors and friends.