Friday, April 29, 2011
While no such cases have been reported here, the Elkhart County Sheriff’s Department is making the public aware of a scam seen recently in northeast Indiana.
A Whitley County woman reported the loss of $3,000 to a telephone solicitor offering a huge sweepstakes prize. In the scam, the person calling claims to be from Publishers Clearing House and wants to send the victim their “winnings” after receiving funds to cover taxes.
This particular scam includes the element of “spoofing,” when the scammer masks their location by using a legitimate local number for caller ID.
Whitley County authorities have received at least three similar reports for this scam.
Individuals should be wary of callers offering big prizes in exchange for personal identifying information, such as Social Security or bank account numbers.