Sheriff’s Office Cautions Community After Latest Scammer Case

The Franklin County Sheriff’s Office gets at least a few calls each week regarding suspicious online activity and possible scammers.

Their latest case is one involving a fake website selling a boat, resulting in at least one person losing more than $20,000. According to Franklin County Sheriff Aaron Dodd, the scammers who created the website are posing as a business owner out of rural Alexander, who they quickly learned had nothing to do with the website.

The scammers have lured in potential victims with the promise of a great deal on a boat — “selling” it for at least $10,000 less than what it should have been worth. But, in reality, there was no boat.

So far, they know of at least one person who's fallen victim to the scam. Dodd learned of this when the victim contacted the sheriff’s office, making the office aware that a local address was being used and for help retrieving his $20,000. But, according to Dodd, that’s unlikely to happen, as this person had wired the money and signed a waiver with the bank stating they were aware of the risks before finalizing their transaction.

Dodd thanked the victim, who’s from out of state, for coming forward, as he possibly saved others from falling for the same scam.

For this case, in particular, Dodd has received calls from concerned buyers from all over the country, including Missouri, Texas, Wisconsin and Florida. He said that they worked with the Iowa Attorney General’s Office, who helped them track down the IP address for the website in question.

The case is still under investigation.

“We are continuing to take reports and have followed up on where the funds were transferred,” said Dodd. “The overall goal for us is to get the site taken down so there are no more victims transferring funds in the scam and to clear the names and addresses of local persons who have been misused in this scam.”

Dodd said there is one way to avoid scams like these, and that is to be cautious when making large purchases, even checking in with others, such as family members, for their advice. He added that most victims are older, so it’s smart to proactively check in with elderly family members, as well.

“Just beware: nobody is giving you anything for free,” Dodd said. “So many people are willing to fall victim to that. If people just stop, and ask a family member ‘what do you think of this?’ or stop and look back and think ‘how did I get to this point?’ so much of this would be stopped. Is this deal to good to be true? Do your homework.”