Public should be vigilant as scammers are relentless, even in Kittson County

By Anna Jauhola
Scams continue to plague residents in Kittson County and officials are asking everyone to be vigilant.
“If it’s too good to be true, it is,” said Sheriff Matt Vig.
In early October, local resident Tori Younggren reported receiving a smartwatch in the mail. She had not ordered a smartwatch. When she Googled the return address on the envelope, the address was connected to an empty warehouse for sale in Pennsylvania. Her suspicions were spot on as she read warnings from others who have received similar mailings. They warned not to turn on the watch or sync it with any devices as scammers would then be able to steal data and personal information.
Younggren reported the incident and turned in the watch to the Kittson County Sheriff’s Office so they knew what was going on.
Vig said another person had reported receiving a watch, but they threw it in the garbage as they had not ordered the item.
The scamming doesn’t stop there.
“We get so many different scams. Right now, it’s Publisher’s Clearing House,” Vig said.
People around the county have been getting calls daily from scammers claiming that they won $1 million. The catch?
“In order to get the money, you need to send some money,” Vig said. “You need to send a specific amount, like $6,432 to this person. Then you have to buy insurance and so on, and eventually they’ll get the money.”
No one ever gets the money they’ve supposedly won, but several people have been duped into sending the scammers thousands of dollars in exchange for a silver briefcase containing reams of printer paper, Vig said.
Unfortunately, it’s difficult to track the scammers, considering they request people wire payments.
“Once you wire money off, it can be completed in Africa, India, you have no idea where it ends up. And it’s a dead-end trail,” Vig said.
Other scams lately have included online scams, one which popped up on Vig’s computer screen at work. He described a pop-up screen that flashed and claimed if he shut off his computer, it would be infected with a virus. However, if he called the number on the screen, “they” could fix his computer.
“I was searching a number on Google because someone had reported it as a scammer’s number. I clicked on the search and a little warning said my computer had been hacked,” Vig said.
Despite the warning to not unplug his computer, Vig did so anyway as he knew this was a current scam going around.
“If somebody gets a call where somebody says, ‘You’ve won money’ and they want money from you, it’s a scam,” Vig said. “It’s 100% a scam. You don’t win money like that. Please report it to the sheriff’s office.”