| Scams in York County are a very serious problem. Sheriff Montgomery estimates that last year York County residents were scammed out of about $1 million. Two recent scamming incidents in the last 45 days are truly mind boggling.
In the first incident a resident was scammed out of $335,000. The resident was called by a scammer posing as a DEA agent. The scammer said the resident was involved in a money laundering scheme in El Paso. The resident was told that he needed to pay the government $35,000 or all his assets would be confiscated. After paying the scammer, he was contacted a couple of days later and told that his net wealth had been underestimated and that he needed to pay an additional $300,000 in cash. The resident took the money out of his 401K retirement account by having it transferred to his bank. The bank was concerned about the large cash transaction and contacted the Sheriff’s Office to have a deputy present for security. When the deputy questioned the resident, he was told that “I want to keep the money at home.” The resident then left the bank and went to a nearby location where he met up with the scammers and gave them the $335,000 dollars. The scammers instructed the resident to go to the local Social Security Office in Hampton to obtain further information about the case. The resident visited the Social Security Office and was told that he had been scammed. To add insult to injury, since the money came from a 401K, the resident will have to pay income tax, which is estimated to be around $60,000. The second case involved the loss of $47,000. In this case, the resident was on his computer when it locked up. He was given a phone number and told to contact Apple (Lie #1). When he did, he was then told that he was being transferred to Apple’s computer support (Lie #2). I’m not sure of the details of the phone call, but in the end, the instructions to unlock his computer required that he pay $47,000 in bitcoin Lie #3). He withdrew cash from his account and went to a location in Newport News where he converted the money to bitcoin and gave it to a scammer.
These are really smart people doing something that makes no sense. No government organization or reputable company will call you to demand money. When in doubt, end the call and call the agency or business. Do not use any phone numbers given to you by the caller. You can also call the Sheriff’s Office. | 
