A New Scam Seems To Be Targeting The Elderly In Webster County

WEBSTER COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – It’s one of our biggest fears, someone gets your bank account information and drains your account.

Now, police are a battling a new debit card scam targeting elderly people in north Mississippi.

Webster County deputies first started receiving calls about the con-artists back in September and victims are still coming forward.

Investigators say, these “scams” happen everyday across the world.

“The way the scam is, I don’t believe they’re just completely targeting the elderly because you’re not going to really know who the card belongs to, it could just be anybody. You could target anybody with this scam that we have found,” says Webster County Investigator Landon Griffin.

Just ask Lowndes County resident Lashanda White. A scammer tried to take her for a big buy.

“I checked it one morning and I saw a charge on there from Family Dollar and it was like $200 dollars, and I was like Family Dollar? I didn’t go to Family Dollar and spend $200 dollars.”

A big amount of money out of your bank account is the first sign it has been hacked.

Webster County deputies say that’s exactly how a recent scam investigation started.

“As much as we have figured out, people are getting a new debit card issued in their name that’s attached to the account of the victim.”

Griffin says around $10,000 dollars of illegal charges have been made on the stolen accounts.

The only known links between the victims are their age groups, their targeted bank. and their money trail.

“Three of the cases I’m working on are all in Florida, involving Florida, Miami Beach area, and then one of the cases I have is involving Seattle, Washington, and due to the fact that they’re in different states, just completely slows the investigative process down.”

Lowndes County Chief Deputy Marc Miley says deputies are always investigating new debit card scams. He says customers need to be careful when buying online.

“Keep your anti-virus software up to date on your computer, run checks on your computer making sure everything is clean and no body has hacked into your computer and things like that. Shred things, get rid of things. Don’t use the same password for everything that you have on your computer for this bank, that bank, or this credit card, or this credit card.”

Investigators say to always keep a close eye on your accounts.

If you see any suspicious activity, call your local law enforcement and your bank.