Elbert County Officials Warn of Renewed Phone Scams

By David Stephens, WSGC Radio, Elberton

In Elbert County, authorities are warning citizens to aware of yet another scam designed to bilk you out of your money and personal information.

The latest incident happened last week, when an Elbert County resident received a call from someone claiming to be from Publisher’s Clearing House. 

The caller stated that the citizen had won a million dollars from publisher’s clearing house, but they wanted them to send $2,500 which they said was for the taxes on the money they were going to receive”, said Elbert County Sheriff’s Office Investigator Darren Scarborough.

Fortunately for the victim, they did not fall for the story, and did not send any money.  Scarborough is encouraging citizens of Elbert County to always be skeptical of calls, emails, or even faxes fitting the description of this case.

“The Elbert County Sheriff’s Department and the Elberton Police Department want to make the citizens aware of any scam that is going on”, said Scarborough. “We don’t want any person to fall victim to a scam. So, if someone is asking you to receive money to get money, 99.9% of the time it is a scam.”

He says calls similar to this one have surfaced all over Elbert County in the last few months, where people are being asked to send money to receive money, and in some cases are being asked to send money so that they can land a particular job.