DOBSON — A detective with the Surry County Sheriff’s Office said an investigation into the latest phone scam has been closed by local authorities.
“We did determine based on information obtained through a court order that the calls are coming out of Puerto Rico,” said Detective Brent Trivette.
Because of where the phone calls are originating, local law enforcement cannot have the phone provider shut down the account but Trivette said state and federal authorities are working on it.
In the meantime, the detective said no new incidents have been reported from local victims.
According to a fraud alert issued by Surry County Sheriff Graham Atkinson on Jan. 15, the scammers called from what appeared to be a local number.
In most reports made by a string of victims from the county, the caller would tell a would-be victim that a family member was in a dire situation, with situations ranging from abductions to car accidents.
The caller would ask the person on the other end of the line to send a large but attainable amount of money to be transferred electronically to make the problem go away.
Atkinson cautioned anyone on the receiving end of a suspicious phone call to hang up immediately and report the interaction to authorities.