Sheriff speaks on scams circling around the county, spreads awareness 

HOUSTON COUNTY — If you have received a text or phone call from an unknown number, you may have been scammed, as a few have been circulating in the county recently.

One scam has come in the form of a text message supposedly from the Georgia Department of Driver Services, according to Houston County Sheriff Matt Moulton. 

“It indicates that there is an unpaid citation that has led or will lead to the suspension of the drivers license,” he said. “There’s a link on there prompting you to pay a fine or fee to avoid having your license suspended. That is a scam.” 

Another scam Moulton has seen is what looks like an actual copy of a court summons from the “State Court of Georgia”. He said when you really look at the image, the summons shows a mailing address in Baltimore, Maryland. 

“It looks like you got unpaid parking citations or an unpaid traffic violation,” he said. 

Like the other, there is a link on the scam suggesting you pay the fine, and the victim is told to deposit money into a cryptocurrency kiosk. 

Moulton said the most popular scams he’s seen are someone impersonating a Sheriff’s deputy by using their real name and claiming you have a warrant for your arrest. 

“They tell you to not disconnect the line or you’ll be arrested immediately and make you believe you’re under surveillance by law enforcement while they are on the phone with you,” he said. 

Moulton reassured the citizens of Houston County and said law enforcement agencies and the DDS will not contact you via text or phone call to let you know if they have an unpaid citation or outstanding warrant. 

“We certainly won’t ask you to pay a fine or fee by using cryptocurrency,” he said. 

 These scams were initially targeting the elderly community. Now, just about everyone can be contacted or affected by a scammer. 

“Now, they’ve just gotten lazy and have been sending out mass text messages,” Moulton said. “They can get your phone number through open data sources that’s free to the public.” 

Moulton believes the scammers are using AI and Photoshop to make the scams seem realistic. He said you can look up what these summons look like on the Internet. 

“It’s difficult when you have someone who takes the time and is very thorough in editing [these scams],” he said. 

The Houston County Sheriff’s Office has continued to raise awareness about these scams that come to light. Moulton said he received these text scams and posted what they looked like on their Facebook page. They received a ton of engagement from people who also got these texts. 

Moulton said it is paramount not to give financial information over the phone or to click on any fishy links. 

“If you get someone like that that may be real, hang the phone up and call the Sheriff’s Office,” he said. “We will tell you that it is a scam.”