Police: Beware Scam Against Elderly

The Douglas County Sheriff's Department has posted this warning on the Sheriff's Facebook page about a scam being perpetrated on the elderly.

There are people who are contacting the elderly over the telephone from an unknown number and/or area code 876, a Jamaican area code. They advise the elderly that they have won hundreds and sometimes millions of dollars and all they have to do is either wire, send via Western Union, buy Green Dot cards, or purchase prepaid debit cards to give them in exchange for the money. Usually, the amount of money they want is anywhere from a few hundred of dollars to thousands of dollars.

If you receive one of these calls please notify your sheriff's office. Try to ask for the caller's name and return phone number so that we have as much information as we can get. While they will make you believe they know where you live and will be coming to your house, many of these callers are not even in the United States or even in this area. While the location is not always known, please be aware of your surroundings and notify the sheriff's office at the sight of anything suspicious.