Sheriff’s officials in Guthrie County said today (Friday), they’ve taken two reports within the past month of scams aimed at siphoning money from victims’ bank accounts. One of the scams involved a relationship that developed over the internet, and was brought to the attention of the Sheriff’s Office a couple of weeks ago, after a man lost $16,000.

Authorities say an elderly gentleman from Guthrie County met a much younger lady from Florida over the internet. The two sparked up a relationship and kept in regular contact with each other over the course of three to four months. During that time, the woman from Florida started asking for money to help her pay for things she was in “desperate need of” such as food for her children and vehicle repairs. The Guthrie County resident was kind hearted and felt sorry for her, so he sent her a few dollars to help her out. Over time, the demands kept coming and the situations kept getting more dire.

The gentleman continued sending money to help the young lady out. The amounts of money he was sending her kept getting larger and larger. After a few months, he had sent the “desperate” young lady nearly $16,000. The transactions were usually done through money wire transfers or with gift cards.  When the man contacted authorities, they advised him to quit sending the lady money.

The second scam involved a person who claimed to be the granddaughter of an elderly Guthrie County woman. The resident got a phone call from a person who said she was the woman’s “granddaughter, and that the “granddaughter” had been in an accident in Minneapolis. She also claimed she had been arrested, and wanted the woman to speak with the granddaughters’ female “lawyer.”

The so called “lawyer” told the elderly woman her client had ran a red light and hit an undercover Minneapolis police officer. Due to the officer’s undercover status, the judge had issued a gag-order and the case could not be discussed with anyone under penalty of law. The “lawyer” advised grandma she needed to drive to her closest Wal-Mart and purchase $4,000 worth of gift cards and sent the numbers on the cards to her law office and she would get “granddaughter” released from jail.

The resident drove to the closest Wal-Mart and purchased $4,000 worth of gift cards and sent the numbers off the cards to the “lawyer’s” office.  A short time later, the ‘judge” in the case called grandmother. The “judge” advised grandma that there was also damage to a utility pole and the cost to replace the pole was $3,000. The “judge” told grandma that “granddaughter” could not be released from jail until the utility pole was paid for.

Once again, the woman drove back to Wal-Mart and purchased another $3,000 in gift cards and sent the numbers off the cards to the “judge”.  Somewhere along the line, authorities say the resident got wise that something was not right. She contacted her credit card company, which she used to purchase the gift cards, and was directed to their fraud department. The fraud department advised her she had fallen for a common scam and a report needed to be filed with the local sheriff’s office.

The Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office says it takes similar scam reports like that almost daily. Usually people do not send money, but in the cases mentioned, almost $23,000 was bilked from Guthrie County residents.

Authorities warn you to please be cautious anytime someone asks you for money over the phone or through the internet. Be sure also, your elderly relatives and neighbors are aware of these types of scams. The bottom line, they say, is :If it sounds fishy, it is. If it sounds too good to be true, it is.”