Telephone Scam Targets Senior Citizens Around Middle Georgia

A new telephone scam could cost you hundreds, even thousands of dollars,
and victims right here in Middle Georgia want you to beware. A woman who asked not to be identified right here in Macon could face a hefty phone bill because of scammers.

“I told him, how could I win something when I had not entered any contest? And I said “it’s a scam!,” the victim says.

She received a phone call from a strange number–the man on the other line said she had won a new Mercedes Benz and $8,000.

She told police the caller knew strange information about her, like where she shopped, and how much she spent there.

“And he said, ‘Well, I want you to go over to Walgreens and get a card, and it will have $450 on it, that you can spend just like you want to.”

The man then said he would send someone over with the $8,000 and the new car later on that afternoon. He then gave her another strange number to call. That’s when she called the Kelvin Collins at the Better Business Bureau, who says he’s received numerous complaints about this strange caller.

“We’ve seen more and more calls coming in where they’ve won a sweepstakes or a lottery and they need to call back a telephone number, which is normally an 876 telephone number in Jamaica, and they are actually entering into international dialing,” says Collins.

Dialing internationally could mean you’ll pay per minute, and a hefty phone bill.

“Know these telephone area codes; don’t ever call an area code that you’re not familiar with. Take some time if you’ve got a computer at home find out if its out of the country,” Collins says.

The victim tells us she just wants to help people avoid being scammed.

“I just want people to protect themselves, not give their money away don’t send anybody any money.”

She  says she hasn’t received her phone bill from the strange call yet, and she hopes she won’t be charged for the call.