The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office is looking to alert the public about a recent scam in north central Wisconsin. An Irma resident phoned the Sheriff’s Office Monday afternoon and reported she was contacted by a person claiming to be from the life insurance company that insured her recently deceased husband. The caller explained that they had accidently paid too much on her recent claim and were demanding repayment of $2,000. The caller threatened to freeze her social security payments until the payment was made or the amount was settled in civil court.
The scammer was assisted by two other parties claiming to be the woman’s attorney, and another person posing as a social security representative in an attempt to verify the call.
The woman offered to make a payment via credit card but the caller instructed her to go to a grocery store in Wausau and get five pre-paid cash cards. It was then that the woman realized she was being scammed.
After speaking to the woman a call was placed to the grocery store in Wausau who were asked to warn their staff to watch for widows or widowers seeking to buy high dollar gift cards. Within minutes of this warning, an elderly woman from Wausau presented herself at the desk seeking to purchase cards to settle an insurance claim for her recently deceased husband.
The public is asked to be wary of phone calls soliciting funds and to call local law enforcement if you receive suspicious calls. Pre-paid cards such as red dot and green dot cards should be extreme red flags as scammers know they can liquidate these cards instantly and they are untraceable.