The Athens Police Department is warning citizens to be aware of a scam that is targeting its victims by phone.
These scammers can be identified by calling from unfamiliar phone numbers, making too-good-to-be-true promises, asking for personal or financial information and speaking in accents “that are not familiar to this area,” Athens Police warned.
The scammers will often ask for the money to be electronically transferred, and once that money has changed hands, Athens Police warn it is very difficult to get the money back.
The man who has been leading this scam has identified himself under the moniker of “James Peters” and targets primarily female senior citizens who are living alone.
In one instance, a woman was told she had won a prize from Publishers Clearing House. She was to put $500 on a “green” visa card, read the card number off to the scammer and then purchase another $400 credit card in order to claim her prize. The scammer also told the woman that at no point was she allowed to talk to anybody about giving away the money or give the money to anyone else.
The scammers are known to rush their victims into making a transaction and become very threatening and aggressive when a person refuses to buy into the scam.
ld311710@ohiou.edu
