Answer Man: Scam calls in Asheville, Buncombe County - how can I stop them?

Question: Most of the phone calls I get on my smartphone these days are either numbers that are unrecognizable or my phone identifies them as potential spam. How is it that my phone can identify a call as potential spam? Also, what are the most common scams these individuals running? What kind of recommendations would be helpful in minimizing the probability of being scammed particularly if you inadvertently answer the call? Can these calls be blocked, and should they be reported and if so to whom?

Answer: I feel your pain, reader. As a reporter, it’s especially obnoxious when you think you’re getting a call about a story you’re working on, only to be told that you need to pay back a loan you never took out.

There was a phone scam in Buncombe County some months ago where callers pretended to be with the Sheriff’s Office and demanded payment for missed jury summons.

“The Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office will never ask for payment for fines or judgements to be paid over the phone and there is not a monetary fine for missing jury duty,” the Sheriff’s Office cautioned in a Nov. 21 news release. “The false scare tactic used during the scam is ‘that unless you pay the fine immediately you will be arrested.’ The scammers claim that you have failed to respond to a jury summons and now owe fines and have a warrant out for your arrest, they may also leave a voicemail stating this false information.”

“These scammers are not local, so they ultimately proceed to asking you to put money on a prepaid debit card,” the release added. “The Sheriff's Office will never ask you to put money on a prepaid card and give that info over the phone in order to pay fines.”

It adds that you can call the Sheriff’s Office’s actual line if you’re not sure whether you’re being scammed. That’s all solid advice for any phone scam. As the AARP notes, it would be pretty weird for a government agency or huge corporation like Apple or Microsoft to demand immediate payment over the phone.

Another thing that’s common: constantly shifting goal posts. Such was the case when someone in Asheville reportedly lost over $150,000 last fall. It was detailed in a search warrant filed by the Asheville Police Department and returned to the magistrate’s office in November.

The scam was pretty comprehensive, if not a bit ridiculous in premise.

The man told police that a woman who called him “advised that someone had opened multiple accounts under his name in California and that they are transporting his money in places such as Pakistan and Afghanistan with terrorism goals,” the search warrant said. “The woman advised that (he) needed to be careful and protect himself and it was in his best interest to go to the Social Security Office to handle the situation. The female provided a control number for his case and advised him to go to Walmart to pay a fee of $1,998.98 and they would send him a voucher to go with him to the Social Security Office.”

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After he wired the money, he got a receipt over Whatsapp – another red flag, the search warrant noted. He was told that this was so the would-be terrorists wouldn’t find out about any investigation.

It snowballed. The scammers convinced him to fill out a fake immigration form, which gave them most of the information they needed. Some of the would-be terrorists were caught, but the man would have to pay court costs over the phone to recoup his money. That was another $7,601.06. Then the “Department of Homeland Security” warned him that the terrorists compromised his investment account and that his assets were being moved around. The scammer told him to sell all his stocks and liquidate them into cash, then wire it to the supposed agency for “safe keeping.” He did send the money – $110,000 – unknowingly to someone in Thailand. He paid the scammers another $48,823, though the search warrant doesn’t say why.

In total, he was scammed out of $167,928, the search warrant says.

“When you receive a call, your device checks the caller’s number and compares it to the list of phone numbers in your third-party spam apps,” Apple says. “If there's a match, iOS displays the identifying label chosen by the app, for example Spam or Telemarketing. If the app determines that a phone number is spam, it may choose to block the phone call automatically. Incoming calls are never sent to third-party developers.”

Another precaution: You can sign up for the Do Not Call registry to stop telemarketing calls and avoid telemarketing scams. There’s more info at the North Carolina Department of Justice’s website. If you’re already a victim of a telemarketing scam or have a complaint about your cell phone or telephone company, you can call 1-877-5-NO-SCAM. The NC DOJ says it will "work to stop wire transfers or bank drafts by the scammers and help you avoid future scams."

Ryan Oehrli covers public safety, breaking news and other beats for the Citizen Times. Comments? Questions? Tips? Send them to coehrli@citizentimes.com.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: How to determine scam calls in Asheville, Buncombe County