After a spike in reports of fraud, Chief Thedis Spencer of the Wadesboro Police Department has issued some tips for citizens to avoid being scammed.

It has come that time of the year again where the Wadesboro Police Department is seeing a rise in reports of attempted fraud. Citizens should be aware of this and take extra caution when dealing with others over the phone. The biggest key to identifying fraud is if it sounds too good to be true, then it is.

Police urge residence to not give out personal information over the phone to anyone that you do not know. There are a few frauds that Wadesboro police have seen so far and that citizens should be aware of. The first is a sweepstakes fraud/scam; the caller will advise that the victim has won a sweepstakes and a car. The caller will want your account numbers to put the money in the bank, or they will deliver it to your address.

The second type of fraud/scam is the jail scam. The caller will advise that a family member of the victim is in jail and will ask for the victim to purchase some type of green dot card or prepaid Visa card. The caller will then want the victim to read the number over the phone. In this case, if it was an actual jail or officer calling, they would want you to come to their department or jails, not take information over the phone.

The third type of fraud/scam will be done by mail, email, and/or phone. The suspect in this fraud/scam will mail or email out checks, have you cash them and want a portion of the money sent to them. The fourth type of fraud/scam is the power bill scam. The caller will state that they are from a power company usually Duke Energy. The call will state that the victim owes on a power bill and will want payment over the phone using some type of prepaid card. These are four types of fraud/scams that the Wadesboro Police Department is seeing at this time.

There are many more types of frauds/scams in existence and circulating. If you feel uneasy about information you have received over the phone, Internet or mail, feel free to call the Wadesboro Police Department. Again, if it sounds too good to be true then more than likely, it is.