Scam artists are preying on Lauderdale County residents, according to the county’s circuit clerk office.
“Of course, we’ve been dealing with the jury scam for a while. That’s a nationwide problem. They’ll call and say you did not report for jury duty, but if you’ll wire money we can get this taken care of with the court system. Then of course last week in Lauderdale County, the scam was these devices that, when you’re going to pump gas, can read information off your credit card,” said Circuit Clerk Donna Jill Johnson.
Unfortunately, Lauderdale County is the target of a new scam, this one involving married couples. Scam artists are calling couples accusing them on bigamy.
“They will call married couples and say, ‘I’m calling you because I found out you’re a bigamist because your divorce was never finalized.’ Of course, these people are very clever and are very good at what they do. They don’t even know who they’re calling. But by the time they get this couple so flustered, this couple has divulged everything,” said Johnson.
Last week, the clerk’s office received three complaints from residents affected by the bigamy scam. In the past, residents have been known to wire thousands of dollars to scam artists.
“That’s an instant flag. When they say wire money, that’s an instant flag because that’s not how the judicial process is working,” said Johnson.
Older people are especially at risk.
“Please help us with our senior citizens and help them because they’re the ones they love to target,” said Johnson.
As a reminder, the clerk’s office wants residents to know that courthouse procedures are not handled over the phone. Instead, residents are likely to receive a letter in the mail, or perhaps a visit from the sheriff’s department.
.png)