Clever scammers up their game

If you’re a human being with a pulse and phone, your odds of being approached by a scammer are pretty high. If you spend a lot of time online, your odds just skyrocketed. According to local law enforcement reports, scams are getting more frequent, more sophisticated and, unfortunately, more successful.

“These scams are getting out of control right now,” said Big Horn County Sheriff Ken Blackburn. “We are seeing more scams than we’ve seen before, and I think with artificial intelligence coming, they are only going to get worse.”

Blackburn said the sheriff’s department has recently seen an uptick in scams where scammers pose as law enforcement or other government officials. Often they threaten to arrest the victim. He advised citizens to call local law enforcement if they receive this type of telephone call or text message immediately to verify its authenticity. In more cases than not, it’s a scam.

“There are too many ways that bad people are scamming good people to describe in a single newspaper article, so it’s critical for people to call law enforcement if something doesn’t sound right or they have a question,” said Blackburn. “We may not be able to do a lot about it, but we can help figure out if it’s real or not.”

Phishing

Phishing is a technique scammers use to get information from a potential victim. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) defines phishing as “the use of unsolicited email, text messages, and telephone calls purportedly from a legitimate company requesting personal, financial, and/or login credentials.” It’s usually the first phase of a scam.

Scammers use this information to make scamming attempts seem realistic. This sophisticated effort to connect names to phone numbers and email addresses makes the scamming seem less like a scam and more like a legitimate request when the information is used to lure a victim.

“People are responding to phishing emails that look legitimate because the scammers already have some information about them, which makes it seem real,” explained Blackburn. “Recently, we’ve had multiple people almost send money and some lose money because of this,” said Blackburn. “We’re seeing so many different types of scams that I would advise not to give any information to someone you don’t know.”

Scammers use personal information to impersonate the phishing target and to scam other victims. Techniques like pretending to need information to help the victim or even small talk during a conversation are some of the techniques scammers use to gather information. Scammers are also masters at collecting massive amounts of information from social media, from the name of your pet dog to photos of you, your birthdate, marital status, employer information and more. So, be careful what you post.

Just answering a scammer’s text or phone call reveals to the scammer that your phone number is a reliable source of contact. Knowing your name opens the door to a social media search for even more information about you to be used in future scams.

Blackburn said a similar technique was used within the past few weeks to trick a Big Horn County resident. The scammer posed as a legitimate government source. He then convinced the victim he owed money to the government. Then using intimidating tactics, like the threat of arrest, convinced the victim to send more than $20,000.

 “I can assure you the IRS, the FBI and the Department of Justice do not conduct arrest warrants over the phone, it doesn’t work that way,” said Blackburn.

Disturbing statistics

If you’ve been scammed, you are not alone. In the year 2024, the FBI reported alarming increases in both frequency and financial impact of online fraud. Its cybercrimes division reported complaints received by the FBI doubled in volume from 467,361 complaints in 2019 to 880,418 in 2023. Financial losses increased more than four times in the same year, topping out at $12.5 billion. In a state by state comparison, Wyoming was ranked 21st out of 52 states in complaints and 30th in losses, with Wyomingites reporting losses of $2,353,556 in the year 2023. 

According to the FBI cybercrimes annual
report for 2023, some of the biggest losses were seen in scams involving get rich quick schemes, romance scams and phony technical support. Government impersonation scams increased by 63 percent. Phony technical support scams were up
15 percent. The report also noted that about 40 percent of the complaints received were from adults 60 years and older who had been scammed. This older population also experienced the biggest financial losses, shouldering 58 percent of the losses nationwide or $770 million. 

Some of the most common scams reported locally have been experienced on Facebook Marketplace and other social media where phony buyers, sellers, landlords, employers and puppy breeders are prolific. Dating sites are also seeing an uptick in romance scams, targeting lonely hearts in rural areas. 

Red flags to watch out for are messages containing a lot of spelling and grammar errors, fear mongering, anyone asking you to be secretive or to isolate yourself from friends and family, anyone asking you to make payments with gift cards or cryptocurrency, and especially anyone who tries to make a situation seem so urgent that there is not enough time for you to take steps to make an informed decision. 

“It’s a good reminder going into the new year for people to be careful,” said Blackburn. “These scams are getting more and more sophisticated and more frequent. Be cautious. If something doesn’t sound right, it probably isn’t.”