HUNTERDON COUNTY, NJ – Hunterdon County Sheriff Fred W. Brown is warning the public about new and increasingly sophisticated scams targeting residents during the holiday season.
The Hunterdon County Sheriff’s Office is aware of two ongoing scam campaigns of which the public should be alerted.
The first is a scam campaign involves a caller who will contact an individual representing themselves as a member of the Geek Squad technical team and will then try and get the resident to give them access to their personal computer or mobile device. If you receive such a call, Sheriff Brown advises that you should hang up immediately and not allow for remote access to your home computer or mobile device.
The other scam campaign that is ongoing involves fake correspondence from PayPal. In this instance, residents are receiving text messages or emails alleging an issue with a consumer PayPal account. Residents are then directed to a phone number or email link where there is an attempt to gather personal information from the consumer. Sheriff Brown again advises to not contact these numbers or click on unidentified web links.
“Scammers are particularly aggressive during the holiday season attempting to deceive residents with misleading phone calls, emails, and text messages hoping to exploit a moment of confusion particularly during the heavy shopping season. Residents need to remain vigilant, and never hesitate to contact the Hunterdon County Sheriff’s Office or their local law enforcement department if they have question about correspondence that they have received.” Brown said.
Commissioner Susan J. Soloway, who serves as liaison to the Hunterdon County Sheriff’s Office said, “Sheriff Brown continues to be on a forefront helping to protect our residents against new scam campaigns. The New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs is another great resource for learning about protection from scams and the AARP recently published an informational article on how to help seniors protect themselves from scams: https://www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/info-08-2013/protect-your-parents-from-scams.html.”
Residents can contact the Hunterdon County Sheriff’s Office at 908-788-1166, with any questions or to report suspicious activity.
