Last Updated on August 11, 2016 12:16 pm
The Avery County Sheriff's Office is warning of the latest scam making the rounds.
In a Facebook Post on Thursday, the department says an elderly woman became a victim of an insurance call scam. The contents of their post is below:
“Just wanted to give you guys a heads-up on a scam that someone used on my elderly mom the other day. They called and told her that they had bought out their insurance company and needed all their info to continue their policies, They told her if she didn't give them the info, their health insurance would be cancelled at 12:01 a.m. the next day. So she gave them all the info they asked for, including her bank information. Of course, by the time she called me and let me know what they had said, they had already drained the account. You might want to let the elderly in the county know what they are doing, and warn them that it's a scam.”
Unfortunately scams have become a common occurrence in the High Country. In July the Watauga County Sheriff's Office reminded residents about phoney political party fundraising and IRS calls. Also in July, North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper sent out an alert regarding phoney tech support calls. Blue Ridge Electric in June warned members of calls being made threatening to disconnect power if certain information was not given out to the caller.
In May scam alerts involving fake IRS calls, possible fake mobile steak salespersons and someone claiming to be a Lieutenant David Bradley with the Watauga County Sheriff's Office were reported in the area.