Even MORE Scams Going On!

I really didn't think "Scam Season" started until mid October, but I guess I am wrong. More and more seem to be popping up lately. All betting on gullibility and fear of the public. When in doubt, hang up, and call back the company that has allegedly "reached out" to you.

You might have heard of the Pizza Scam, where a fake facebook post is making the rounds offering a free Little Caesars Pizza. The other scams are a lot more nefarious. One that is making the rounds deals with a Sergeant calling you to inform you of a warrant for your arrest.  Another one deals with a text message, informing you of a package that can not be delivered and giving you a link to click to make arrangements to receive your missing parcel.

A recent post from the Yakima County Sheriff's Office has mentioned how an old tried and true scam is making the rounds:

The old "you missed a court date, you missed jury selection, you need to pay us or we will arrest you" scam is alive and well in Yakima County... again.

A scammer has been calling citizens of Yakima County trying to separate them from their hard-earned money. The scammer is pretending to be a sergeant from our office informing them about warrants for their arrest for missing a court date, for failing to appear as a character witness in a trial. As you all know, trials have been on hold in Yakima County for COVID-19 but have just resumed again this month.

Please don’t fall for the scam. We aren’t going to call people about warrants. We are not going to try and take payments over the phone for warrants. We aren’t going to ask people to pay for their warrants in gift cards. Hang up on these scammers and keep your money in your pockets!

You can always call your local police department or sheriff’s office if you think you have a warrant. We will tell you. (hint….it won’t be for missing a jury trial unless you are a defendant.)

If that one isn't bad enough, a listener informed us of a phone call she received from a scammer pretending to be from Pacific Power, threatening to cut her power in 30 minutes unless a payment is made immediately. Of course, it freaked her out at first, but cooler heads prevailed, and she hung up. For more info on the Pacific Power Scam, check out the full story & Pacific Power's response here. If you are ever in doubt, hang up and check out the Federal Trade Commission's Fraud & Scam alert page!