The Yates County Sheriff’s Office is advising residents of potential phone scams that are being received in the county.
According to Sheriff Francis Ryan, calls are coming in requesting money for a variety of reasons. Examples include calls for bail for relatives in trouble with law enforcement, avoiding arrest warrants being issued, as well as for computers being infected with viruses or adult materials.
Sheriff Ryan said it is imperative to understand that these scammers go to great lengths to threaten and intimidate victims into making immediate decisions that result in theft of identity and financial loss. With the advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI), it has become easier to simulate voices and remove accents when making these calls to further mask the origins. This is identified as voice cloning and is a result of using recorded phone calls, or the downloading of social media photos and videos being edited to use as a basis for calls. The majority of these calls will demand immediate action on your part, use digital payment formats such as cash apps, cryptocurrency, Apple, or other gift cards, and demand that you keep the call a secret and not report it to law enforcement.
The sheriff’s office is asking residents not to provide any personal information over the phone, nor to allow anyone access remotely to their computer unless they are certain of who is on the other side of the call or computer. Scams should be reported to your local law enforcement and your financial institutions, especially if you have provided personal or financial information.
