Scam Alert In Giles County

The Giles County Sheriff’s Department would like to bring attention to the rise in scammers targeting our elderly and vulnerable adults.

These scammers are directing victims to use physical cryptocurrency ATMs, often Bitcoin, while providing the victim with a code to complete payment transactions. The scammers will use various fraudulent schemes, often identifying themselves as a familiar entity such as the government, law enforcement, a legal office, utility company, and even financial institution.

Because scammers have access to a great deal of information online, they are often able to provide enough information to convince the victim that the caller is from the victim’s familiar entity.

A most recent incident involved the scammer pretending to be a local representative from the victim’s bank.

Sheriff Helton would like the public to know that financial institutions, and or other government or public offices, will not contact anyone to request the withdrawal of funds to deposit into Bitcoin accounts or any type of ATM.

Sheriff Helton is requesting that the public be aware and to help educate our elderly and vulnerable adults about such schemes. If you, or someone you know, believe to

have been victim to these scams, please contact your local law enforcement agency.