BALDWIN COUNTY, Ala. ( WKRG ) — Whether it’s a sketchy phone call or an online message, lately, scammers are reaching out to Baldwin County residents phishing for anything and everything.
Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office Captain Andre Reid said he is seeing a trend.
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“Most of these are confidence scams, and what they do is either they get a call or may even get a Facebook message or somebody that appears to be a friend with you on social media or LinkedIn, they chat with you, and the next thing you know they make you an outrageous offer,” Reid said.
Reid said the most popular scam recently, is a scammer telling people they have won the lottery.
“Most of the time they call and say, ‘Hey, you’ve won the lottery or you won some money, but we need you to send in and you have to buy this $50 ticket or $100 ticket,’” Reid said. “Next thing you know, someone has gone out, gotten a gift card, gave the scammers the number, and that money is gone.”