MA Sheriff's Department Warns of "Unprecedented" New Scam

One western Massachusetts Sheriff's Department is warning people about the latest scam targeting local residents.

Massachusetts is full of a lot of really good people, unfortunately, there are still some bad ones out there as well. In an age where people have access to others in so many ways, coupled with ever-growing technology, scams are on the rise.

According to CNBC, there has been a 61% increase in attacks and scams in the past year, and each year, they become more sophisticated in their methods. The news outlet reports that last year, consumers lost an estimated $5.8 billion to fraud.

Western Massachusetts Sheriff's Department Warns Against Surge in New Scam

The Hampden County Sheriff's Department is warning local residents about an "unprecedented" surge in scam phone calls targeting residents in a scam. These scam calls appear to come from the Sheriff's department, using technology to "spoof" the number on called ID.

According to WWLP, the Hampden County Sheriff’s Office states that they’ve never seen activity at this level. There are even reports of a woman was schemed out of thousands of dollars through bitcoin last week, crossing multiple towns to deposit the money in the bitcoin machine.

Authorities say it's difficult to almost impossible to recoup money stolen in these type of scams so it's pertinent that the public stay vigilant.