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Sheriff's Office Warns Citizens About Financial Exploitation Scams

The Christian County Sheriff’s Office is warning  citizens about the growing problem involving Financial Exploitation Scams especially as we go into tax season.

Recently, a citizen told the Sheriff’s Office about an email they had received from someone purporting to be an agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The email was filled with international intrigue, shady diplomats and of course “large” sums of money. It went on to tell them that if they did not contact them immediately they would be charged with tax evasion. It even had an official address and was signed by a “Regional Deputy Director.” Of course, none of it is true

In nearly every instance, written communication with a government agency will be in the form of a letter sent through the United States Postal Service and will include your name.  There are often many tell-tale signs such as all capital letters, spelling errors and often a return address that goes back to a less than official email address. In this case, the return email address extension (.VN) was for a location in Vietnam. It is also not uncommon to have other foreign return email addresses such as Nigeria (.NG) or Russia (.RU), or ones from free providers such as Yahoo, Hotmail or Gmail. Official government emails have government email addresses.

If you are unsure, please contact this office or your local law enforcement agency.

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