November 3, 2022
From The Chemung County Sheriff’s Dept: Recently, the Sheriff’s Office was made aware of a scam in which a citizen of Chemung County received a telephone call from someone representing themselves as a member of the Mexico / U.S Border Patrol. The caller alleged the citizen was a suspect in a drug trafficking investigation and had a warrant for their arrest. The caller claimed money in the citizen’s bank account was identified as being used to traffic drugs and would need to be tested. In order for the money to be tested, the caller directed the citizen to withdrawal the money from the bank account to be sent to a destination for testing.
The caller told the citizen that the Border Patrol would provide an attorney to represent them for a fee and that local law enforcement would be coming to their home to make the arrest if they did not comply. The Chemung County Sheriff’s Office is reminding citizens of the importance not to share personal or bank account information with anyone they don’t know via telephone, email, or social media. Citizens should not mail or wire money to any destination requested by anyone they don’t know, specifically subjects claiming to be from a government organization. Scammers have the ability to use computer applications to disguise the phone number they are calling from so it appears the call is being made from a government organization or someone they know.
