The Bluffton Police Department has received several calls over the last few weeks from concerned residents regarding phone calls they are receiving that may be scams. 

The department issued the following statement to the Icon:

The police department would like to remind you that if you receive a call that is asking for any personal information or banking information over the phone, to not give out that information.

If you are asked to cash a check and send money back, buy gift cards and send them to the caller or give the caller the PIN number on the back of a gift card, use a money transfer service to send money to another city, state, or country, or anything else that is out of the ordinary, do not move forward with these requests.

The best course of action is to hang up on the caller and then block the number from calling again.  If a voicemail is left, do not return the voicemail.  The longer the interaction with the caller, the more agitated, pushy, and threatening they will get.

The three most common scams over the last year are:
• Social Security Administration (SSA) scam,
• IRS scam, and
• amily member has been arrested scam.

The SSA and IRS scams usually involve someone claiming to be from one of those federal agencies.  They tell you that your social security number is going to be suspended for one reason or another or that you haven't paid your taxes.

They say you must pay some sort of fee to them to clear it up.  They may even threaten to involve the FBI or local law enforcement if you don't comply.  The SSA and IRS will not contact you over the phone to ask you to send them money.  If you question a call you receive, call the agencies directly to check on your personal status with them.

The third common scam involves a caller stating that a family member (they will have a name of one of your family members) is in jail and that you need to send money to bail them out.  

The caller will typically say they are from a certain department calling on your family member's behalf, or they will even pretend to be your family member and ask for you to send bail money.  Prior to sending any money to anyone to post bail, please check with the family member in question to make sure they are ok.  

Do not call the number back that you are given but look up the actual department number on the internet and contact them direct to see if the family member in question is in their custody.

If you receive a call
If you receive a call and are questioning whether it is legitimate, feel free to contact the police department prior to sending any money to anyone.

For questions regarding scams in general, feel free to reach out to Lt. Oglesbee and he will attempt answer any questions you have.

His contact information is 419-358-2961, extension 110.