Thomasville Police are warning residents about a new kind of scam—targeting the elderly—that’s becoming a growing problem in the South Georgia area.
In the past few months, there have been at least 10 reported cases of people purchasing Green Dot Money Cards and handing over hundreds of dollars over to scammers. Sometimes, they’re told they’ve won the lottery or a grant. Other times, they’re convinced they owe money to the IRS.
“So, it’s a scam that’s been going around for years, but the Green Dot Card is a new way of doing it. The people think that with the Green Dot Card, they have an opportunity to get their money back, but that’s not the case. It’s like a gift card. Once somebody gets you a gift card, and they get that money off the gift card, it’s gone,” said Thomasville Police Lt. Wade Glover.
And, Glover says because the scam uses the money card, the suspects don’t even need to have the card in hand, making them hard to trace.
“The victims in these cases call these people back and give them the number on the back of the card, so these suspects can simply go online, punch in that number, and get the number off the card and get it transferred to an account overseas or wherever,” he added.
He says once money leaves the card, it’s gone. So, the easiest way not to become a victim is not taking part in these types of transactions.
“If somebody wants to give you some money for no apparent reason, it’s obviously too good to be true. And, if it’s too good to be true, it usually is,” said Glover.
Glover says residents aware of any similar scams should contact the police department.
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