SUN CITY – Telephone and email scams are everywhere these days. Ask virtually anyone you know, and they’ll tell you about a fraud attempt they have received or heard about.
In Huntley, the police department, in the person of Sgt. Leonard Marak, is keeping Sun Citians aware regularly about the latest scam attempts. He regularly sends emails to neighborhood reps in Sun City describing these activities in some detail, and warning and instructing residents how to respond, or not.
The Sun Day, with the police department’s approval, will publish these messages, to spread the word about these illegal activities to as wide an audience as possible.
âThere are still a variety of scams and attempted frauds occurring throughout the area,â Sgt. Marak said in a recent email message to Sun City reps. âSome of the more recent ones involve the following activities:
âOne of the residents in Neighborhood 40 recently switched TV providers from a digital service to a dish service. A little while after the change was made and the dish was installed, the resident received a phone call from a foreign-sounding person claiming to be from the new dish provider. The caller wanted to come to the resident’s house to âinspectâ the work that the installer had recently done. He called it a common practice. The resident was diligent and refused this. The resident also called his new provider, who verified that it was not their policy to have another person come out to a house to inspect and verify that the installation was done properly. At this time, it is unknown how the caller knew that the resident recently switched TV providers.
âAnother one involved people who are trying to purchase cars on the Internet, especially through Auto Trader and the like. Ads will be posted or sent to the prospective buyer in which someone claims to be in the military service, and needs to sell a newer car with low miles for a really cheap price because they are being deployed overseas. The issue is that the seller wants the prospective buyer to pay the shipping fees to get the car to the buyer’s home. Lo and behold, the car never arrives but the buyer is out the shipping money.
âFinally, the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office recently sent out a Nixle alert advising residents of an impersonation scam that has been started involving their agency. The sheriff’s office recently received notification that someone is calling county residents impersonating employees of the sheriff’s office and âspoofingâ our department’s number. The victim reported that they had a missed cell phone call that displayed the exact same phone number as the sheriff’s non-emergency phone number, 815-338-2144. A voice mail was left from someone who identifies himself as a sheriff dispatcher named Chris Lowery.
âThe message informed the victim that she has a matter that she needs to take care of and provides her with another phone number and a name of a subject she needs to contact to avoid being arrested on a warrant that will be issued for her.
âWe remind you that police agencies do not call residents and ask for payment to avoid prosecution. If you receive a phone call from a government or police agency asking for money or requesting something from you, stop and think to yourself, have I committed any criminal acts or is there a reason for them to be calling me?
âTechnology allows scammers to register a phone via the Internet to make it look like someone else is calling them. This is called âspoofing.â If you receive a phone call or a message from a deputy or detective from the sheriff’s office, call our non-emergency line and verify that the person making the call is employed by our department. If you do not know the phone number of the agency that is supposedly calling you, use your phone book or the Internet to locate the number. Do not use the number provided by the caller.
âPlease remember to be vigilant when asked to hand out personal or financial information over the phone, especially unsolicited,â Sgt. Marak says. âRemember the old saying, âIf it’s too good to be true, it probably is.â
