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DeWitt County Sheriff Introduces Fraud Abuse Hotline

 width=Scams continue to be a problem locally, and because of that, a local law enforcement official has introduced a special hotline to get advice or report a scam.

According to DeWitt County Sheriff Jered Shofner, thousands of dollars each month leave DeWitt County on account of scams and fraud. Because of this, he has introduced a new hotline for anyone to call to report a scam or to seek professional information on if a phone call, email, or piece of mail may be a potential scam.

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Scams can take on many forms and are continuously changing, but the Sheriff says the "grandparents scam" is making a comeback. Sheriff Shofner says that particular scam is so effective because the person on the other end of the line gives up crucial information without even knowing it.

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People can call the hotline at any time of the day and talk directly to the Sheriff or to one of this deputies. If there's an instance where none of them are available, and according to Sheriff Shofner, a voicemail message can be left that goes to all of them and the turnaround on receiving a call back should be short.

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The number of scams that are successful are reported very frequently, but more often, they are not. This leaves the Sheriff to wonder how many successful scams are actually reported in DeWitt County.

As it relates to recovering what you may have lost in being a victim of a scam, the Sheriff notes each case is unique but he hopes victims will come forward and give themselves a chance to rectify the situation.

The Fraud Prevention Hotline in DeWitt County is 217-935-7867.

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