New Scams, old Scams, there always seems to be a scam.

BEMIDJI, BELTRAMI COUNTY, MN: The Beltrami County Sheriff’s Office would like to remind the public that there seems to be a never ending and growing list of scams that continuously torment all of us. From owing back taxes, to having a warrant for your arrest, or a loved one is in jail and needs bail. A plethora of these scams are out there and unfortunately some of these scammers can be very convincing.

Please do yourself a favor and hopefully save yourself from more than just a headache and learn how to protect yourself, your identity, your information and educate yourself on the types of scams. Be familiar with how they may manipulate or con you into giving them information about yourself. Being proactive is your best defense.

In the cyber society we live in today, your information is out there in one fashion, form or limitation. Scammers troll for this information and often times you may innocently share just enough information to give them just enough to start working on you. A social media post or sharing can leave you very vulnerable so be wary of what you share or post.

Recently, the Beltrami County Sheriff’s learned that a very persistent scammer, after multiple phone calls and voicemails, convinced a citizen that the caller was a federal agent and a warrant was about to be issued for their arrest. The scammer had already obtained limited information on the citizen and through some tactful conversation learned or confirmed even more. The catch for our citizen was the ability to pay for “their warrant” with the purchase of gifts cards and transferring money. Unfortunately, what they didn’t realize was the scammer wasn’t quite done with them, yet.

After ending that conversation the citizen soon received a call from a “Beltrami County Deputy” and while using a “spoofed” caller I.D and telephone number from the Beltrami County Sheriff’s Office tried to convince this person that they would be arrested if they didn’t comply with the Federal Agent. Spoofing is the manipulation of caller I.D. to display a fabricated number in an attempt to represent falsely where the caller is calling from.

There is more to this story than I can share with you but the moral of this story is how persistent scammers can be and to remind you to protect yourself. Protect your identity. Protect your information and educate yourself about scammers.

We have included two very helpful and educational links from the FBI on how to help make yourself safe and how to help identify spoofing (used in this instance), phishing, vishing (also used in this incident), smishing and pharming.

https://www.fbi.gov/scams-and-safety

https://www.fbi.gov/scams-and-safety/common-scams-and-crimes/spoofing-and-phishing

Sheriff Ernie Beitel

Beltrami County Sheriff’s Office

613 Minnesota Ave. NW.

Bemidji, MN 56601

ernie.beitel@co.beltrami.mn.us