OC Sheriff warns about ‘to-good-to-be-true’ scams

It has been said that if something sounds too good to be true, then it probably is. Now the Orange County Sheriff’s office is warning residents to watch out for things that look to good to be true as well.

According to Orange County Sheriff Keith Merritt, a money scam is hitting the area as well as other parts of the country.

“People will receive a check in the mail for anywhere from $2,000 to $3,000 normally from a legitimate bank in the U.S.” Merritt said. “There will be a letter with the check telling the person to call and put so much money down as a processing fee.”

Merritt said that since the processing fee can be done instantaneously, once the scammers receive their money they will cancel the check.

“It is another global scam like the ones from Nigeria and the United Kingdom that people get in their e-mail,” Merritt said. “They prey on the elderly, as they are usually the ones that have money in the bank. We’ve had complaints of it here and have had two instances that I know about, so we are wanting to put the word out as a warning to people in the area to not be fooled.”

Merritt said that it is unclear if more instances have occurred, as they may not get a complaint from everyone it has been pulled on.

“Sometimes people may not want to say anything because they are embarrassed that they fell for a scam,” he said.