Identity theft is among the fastest growing “white collar” type crimes in the United States and nationwide, as more and more people, primarily through the telecommunication industry such as Internet and phone, are losing their identity and lots of money in the process, not to mention the hassle they have to go through to get their stolen identities back.

Although some scammers use the U.S. mail as ways to try to entice people into sending money for services or goods that don’t exist, or as a means to gain important information such as Social Security or bank numbers, the favorite con scam artists in this day and time use is primarily online and by fake phone calls, which often times can sound all too real.

Even though most scammers seek out larger cities and high scale neighborhoods, small towns and counties are definitely not immune, as your computer can be hacked and you phone number found regardless of where you live…even in Albany and Clinton County.

Scam artists have been around for decades, but over the past few years, and primarily over the past several months, the problem has become more prevalent, especially here in the south central Kentucky area. Local citizens have seemed to be continuously reporting scam calls that threaten them in some way if they don’t send money and/or give out personnel information, usually using popular entities such as Publishers Clearinghouse and the IRS, just to name a couple.

Now, Clinton County Sheriff Jim Guffey has announced that in recent days and weeks, another recurring phone scam has been taking place, that being when people are called by someone falsely reporting they represent the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

The sheriff’s department would again like to warn local residents about these and other scam calls and urge those who receive such calls to just use common sense when dealing with the scammers.

For instance, try and get a phone number from caller ID if possible (even though most are not traceable, it is a start for law enforcement to being investigating); try to get as much information from the caller themselves as possible (i.e. ask for their name, company verification and a call back number); and never give out any personal type of information, especially bank or credit card numbers, Social Security numbers, etc.

Persons who think they may have been scammed or have already been contacted by a scam artist is asked to report the incident with as much information as possible to any local or state law enforcement agency.