Auroraadvocate.com - Con artists are active in Portage County

by Dave O'Brien

Record-Courier Reporter

Scam artists have been hitting Portage County in recent weeks, attempting to con residents out of their hard-earned money.

The Portage County Sheriff's Department has taken at least four reports in the past two weeks regarding potential scams.

Most recently, a 49-year-old Mantua woman received a flier in the mail requesting that she participate in a "Mystery Shopper Consumer Research Program" for a New York firm.

The woman was given a check by the company to go shopping with. She deposited the check into her checking account, but several days later discovered that her bank account had been cleaned out.

According to Portage County Sheriff David Doak, when investigators checked the phone numbers on the paperwork provided by the company, one number came back to a cell phone in Canada and the other was to a phone in the Queens borough of New York City.

Other recent attempted scams and frauds were:

* On Nov. 6, a Suffield resident reported receiving mail and phone calls informing her that she had won money. Deputies told her to throw out the mail and hang up on the phone calls.

* A Franklin Township resident reported Oct. 29 that she had received a phone call from "a female with a foreign accent" who wanted her Medicare information, bank card number and Social Security number.

The resident declined to give any information and hung up. The number the caller used, 866-234-2255, now plays a message saying Medicare scammers are using it as their caller ID and to call the police if you receive a call from that number.

* A Randolph woman reported Oct. 28 that she was the recipient of a phone call from a man who said he was with Medicare and her card would have to be renewed because of several reported cases of fraud.

When the woman declined to give him her checking account number, he put a female on the phone he said was his supervisor. The resident hung up without giving out her bank account information.

Such frauds are especially prevalent around the holiday season, according to officials. Several useful Web sites to help people identify frauds and scams include FightIdentityTheft.com and BBB.org, the Web site of the Better Business Bureau.

Anyone who thinks they have been the victim of a scam or attempted scam should call the police.

E-mail: dobrien@recordpub.com

Telephone: 330-296-9657