There are two scams taking place around the area, Ontwa Township-Edwardsburg Police Department Chief Kenneth Wray reports. Be aware of them, he advises.
In the first case, the household receives a phone call that states the caller’s name and that he or she has just won several thousand dollars or millions of dollars. In order to collect the winnings, the caller will have to send a certain amount of money to join the membership. The person who is called is told to go and get a Western Union Check, and that once they have the check ready, to call the number given and someone will come to the house and pick up the check.
They get quite elaborate and even describe the residents and its location to the resident.
After the resident calls back a courier (some type of shipping company or package pickup service) comes to pick up the check and sends it to a location in another part of the United States or even another country.
In the second scenario the caller represents him or herself as Publishers Clearinghouse and says that the person called has won some money that he or she will have to call a number to make arrangements to collect the money. When that number is called, a charge is added to the caller’s phone bill. Sometimes it can be charged for a large sum of money.
Wray says that this is the time of year that scams take place. It is getting close to the holidays.
If it is too good to be true, it probably is, Wray advises.