Phone, mail scams on the rise

Whether it’s regarding “your vehicle’s extended warranty” or a recorded call supposedly from the Social Security Administration informing you that you may be in trouble because your Social Security number has been involved in fraud, robocalls and bogus letters have become something of a joke these days.
However, for one Custer County man who responded to a letter claiming to be from Publishers Clearing House (PCH), such scam communications are no laughing matters.
Custer County Sheriff’s deputy Lt. Steve McMillin said his office received a report March 11 from a man who had gotten a letter telling him he was a second place winner of $1 million in the PCH Sweepstakes. Enclosed was a check for approximately $6,600.
The letter instructed the victim to deposit the check in his account and then write two checks for $2,300 each and send them to a Mary Peters at an address in in Orlando, Fla. By the time the victim was informed by his bank that the “PCH” check was fraudulent, the money had already gone out of his account, leaving him $4,600 poorer.
McMillin said the scam is a familiar one used to bilk people out of their hard-earned money. He said it was even tried on him several years ago when he attempted to sell a boat on Craigslist. Almost immediately after placing his ad, he received offers from people who said they were willing to buy the boat sight unseen. The buyers said they would send a check for more than the asking price and that McMillin was to give the overage to someone who would show up to transport it to the buyer.
In this particular scam, when the check bounces, the seller is out the transportation costs which have come out of his own account.
That brings up McMillin’s first rule for responding to robocalls or letters: If a supposed prize or offer involves having to pay something up front, it is most likely a scam.
While acknowledging there are sometimes taxes or license fees to be paid on a prize, McMillin said they are never required to be paid up front and the companies running the contests never offer to send a separate check to pay for those expenses.
Phone scams tend to fall into two major categories: IRS and Social Security calls and the vehicle extended-warranty offers.
The government agency calls generally threaten legal action, including jail, if a fee is not paid over the phone. That should be a big red flag, according to McMillin.
“That’s not how the government works,” he said. “Their audit process is very meticulous and slow.”
He said, if money is owed, the taxpayer will usually be contacted by letter initially and agents will never threaten or ask for money over the phone.
McMillin said if you are suspicious about a letter purportedly from a government agency, he recommends looking up the local number and calling that instead of the one listed in the letter if they are different. He said every legitimate governmental agency will understand why someone is attempting to verify the information.
McMillin said such calls are always an attempt to extract money from the person called, even if it’s only a few hundred dollars.
“Some will offer to clean up the problem for, say, $300,” said McMillin.
He said, while most of the calls are asking for between $200 and $500, if a few people bite, the amounts will add up and that’s why the calls keep coming.
That leads to McMillin’s second rule for not becoming a victim of a scam: “Make sure you only provide information when you know for sure who’s on the other end of the phone.
“If they call you, don’t volunteer your information unless you know for sure that person is a person who needs to have that information,” he said.
He said if the issue is regarding something with your bank, hang up and call them back. If it’s legitimate, the person answering your call will have the same information if, for instance, your account has been frozen.
McMillin said the problem with the ubiquitous auto warranty calls is that, contrary to what they lead you to believe, they are not representing your vehicle’s manufacturer and are most likely offering a worthless product.
A recent article in Money Magazine said in the last six months of 2020 Americans filed nearly 200,000 Do Not Call complaints about unwanted calls offering auto warranties and protection plans, which is probably a mere fraction of the calls that actually went out.
“With this particular scam,” the article said, “people are led to believe they’re buying an extension of their car’s existing warranty....In reality, the so-called warranty they’re selling—for hundreds or even thousands of dollars—probably won’t be honored by the dealership where the customer bought their car, or at any private auto body shop. Sometimes there’s no warranty at all.”
McMillin said those calls probably make up the highest volume of calls right now, but they don’t get reported much “because people have caught on.” He said, even though local numbers may show up on caller ID, most of them are actually coming from outside the country.
“They use throw-away ‘burner’ cell phones or are calling from outside the country, so trying to track them down goes beyond the capabilities of our department,” he said.
Rule No. 3 in McMillin’s list is that any monetary transaction over the phone should be initiated by you. He said citizens should always be suspicious of any request for payment or personal information over the phone or via email.
He said scammers often target seniors because they grew up in a more trusting time.
Tracking down the scammers is a nearly impossible task for law enforcement, according to McMillin, because so many of the calls come from out of the country or from states that don’t recognize South Dakota court orders.
He said because of these roadblocks the chances of ever recovering stolen money from a scammer are “probably slim and none.”
Agreeing that the calls seem to be on the increase, McMillin believes it may have something to do with recent government stimulus checks going out.
“We always see an increase around Christmas holidays,” said McMillin,  “also when income taxes are due and people are getting refunds from the IRS. They go year-round, but seem to increase during times when they know people have more money.”
McMillin urged again that the public develop a healthy skepticism about any such calls or letters. He said it’s also a good idea to regularly monitor credit reports and bank accounts, noting that in this environment those things must be watched much more closely than ever before.