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Area residents still targeted with e-mail scams
Scams continued to target DeKalb County residents Wednesday, with e-mails now being used to gain financial information.
The e-mails, with first reports of such coming in Tuesday, are identifying themselves as legitimate banks and notifying the target there is a problem with their account in hopes of getting account information. About five fraudulent e-mails were reported to the DeKalb Police and County Sheriff’s office, but no one has fallen victim to the scam.
The e-mails contain symbols and logos copied or very similar to the actual bank, in some cases Resource Bank, said DeKalb County Sheriff Roger Scott. The e-mails direct the person to enter account information to reinstate their account, Scott said.
This scam began after the phone scam that has been targeting area residents since Oct. 10. Targets received an automated phone message, telling them to enter account information because of a problem with their credit card or bank account, Scott said. The scams may be connected based on the time, but investigators haven’t solved the issue yet, Scott said.
On Tuesday, DeKalb Police received about 15 reports or calls of the scam, and several others Wednesday following media exposure, said DeKalb Police Lt. Gary Spangler. About three phone scams were also reported to the sheriff’s office since Thursday.
A block was put on the phone numbers being used in the phone scams, so they can’t be used again, Scott said. Police identified the phone company the numbers belonged to, but the suspects using the numbers are unknown, Scott said. Police are continuing to investigate the calls and e-mails, and are working with banks and credit unions.
Similar to the phone scam where two DeKalb detectives received the phone message, the department also received one of the fraudulent e-mails. The e-mail said the target’s bank account had been suspended, and they were required to reply to the e-mail to correct it, Reyes said.
“They are both occurring at about the same time,” Reyes said. “So they could very well be the same suspect.”
DeKalb Police are working with the sheriff’s office on the investigation, and getting the word out to the recipients of the e-mail helps with the investigation, said DeKalb Police Lt. Gary Spangler.
“We’re just trying to keep ahead of the game by getting the numbers disconnected,” Spangler said.
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