Overton County Sheriff John Garrett said scams are running rampant in the community, particularly fraud and financial schemes.
Garrett warning residents to stay alert. Garrett said most of the scams involve groups pretending to be local law enforcement and threatening residents with arrest if they do not pay for missing jury duty or failing to appear in court. He said scammers are such a pervasive problem that his office is conducting scam investigations daily.
“We are not gonna call and threaten you with arrest,” Garrett said. “We have seen several folks be victimized here lately in Overton County because the scammers were so convincing. It was unreal.”
Garrett said that while most of the scammers operate from overseas, they use technology that allows them to mimic the voices of local residents. He encourages people to hang up on these calls and immediately contact the sheriff’s office.
“I don’t want to see anybody anywhere be victimized, and I definitely don’t want to see our citizens here in Overton County be victimized,” Garrett said. “The steps that we are taking include reverse 911 calls, posts on social media such as our sheriff’s office Facebook page, radio interviews like this, and articles in our local papers warning of scams. And it seems that there is just not enough. I don’t know if it’s that people are not paying attention or if these scammers are just that good.”
Garrett said the sheriff’s office will only contact residents by certified mail or in person through an officer or a clerk. He said these types of scams have been ongoing for a while, and it is disturbing to see so many people locally fall victim and lose thousands of dollars.
“Most are embarrassed,” Garrett said. “They are embarrassed, they are hurt, and they feel like they have been taken advantage of, and rightfully so. The odds of us being able to recover that money are very slim.”
Garrett said he is urging the community to help spread the word to prevent scammers from finding their next victim.