JACKSON, Wyo. — The scam warnings just keep on coming.
After the Town of Alpine issued a warning last week that a scammer was posing as a representative of its planning and zoning commission, three other local governing bodies issued warnings of similar scams.
The Teton County Sheriff’s Office (TCSO) issued a warning on Tuesday stating that residents are being targeted by scammers posing as law enforcement.
“Our dispatch center is receiving an increase in reports from Teton County residents about a call advising about a missed jury duty summons and a warrant of arrest issued for not appearing,” TCSO posted to Facebook. “Phone scammers can be very convincing. They can spoof legitimate numbers and use names of past and current law enforcement. They will use intimidation tactics to scare you into quickly sharing personal and financial information. They will pressure you to send them money through payment apps, gift card numbers, [or] Bitcoin. DO NOT click links or use QR codes sent via text.”
TCSO added that its staff will never collect money or financial information by phone call or text, nor will it ask residents to pay fines via Venmo, Paypal, gift card or cryptocurrency.
Also on Tuesday, the Town of Jackson announced that it had been contacted by individuals who had received suspicious emails purportedly from the local planning and zoning commission for “recently approved projects.”
“Correspondence about applications or other operations at the Town of Jackson will never come from Commissions and will be from an email address ending with @jacksonwy.gov,” TOJ’s news release states. “Unfortunately, phishing schemes are becoming more and more sophisticated as use of artificial intelligence (AI) becomes widespread. There are people behind these schemes, misrepresenting themselves as the Town, trying to take advantage of our community.”
TOJ added that its IT department and Jackson Police Department had been notified of the situation.
Similarly, residents of Teton County, Idaho, are encouraged to be vigilant against an “ongoing scam involving fraudulent invoices claiming to be from Teton County,” according to a statement posted by the County on Monday afternoon.
“The scam email requests wire transfer payments for zoning fees, land use permit fees, and similar charges, using the address planning.tetoncountyidaho@usa.com,” Teton County posted to the Community Page of Teton County Idaho on Facebook. “Please note that Teton County will never send wire transfer instructions or request payment via email.”
Those who receive such an email are instructed to disregard the message and to inform the County.
When trying to determine if an email is legitimate, TOJ recommends assessing the following factors:
- Inconsistencies in email addresses, links, domain names or font.
- Tone, grammar, and urgency. Reread the email to see if any of these seem off.
- If you were not expecting it, do not open it. If you think it is from a known contact, or an official organization, but are not sure, send a message via other means (text or phone) to verify whether it is genuine.
- Never reply to suspicious emails.
