VBSO Consumer Protection Unit works to educate most vulnerable population

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — A new Consumer Protection Unit within the Virginia Beach Sheriff’s Office is working to serve and protect residents in a different way by focusing on scams.

Scammers can be creative and sound so realistic, but Sheriff Rocky Holcomb said there’s no place for them in Virginia Beach.

“We protect and serve all over the city of Virginia Beach and all over the Commonwealth, and we think it’s important that we get out in front of this and help the citizens to avoid this scam,” Holcomb said.

His office is working in partnership with the police department, the Commonwealth Attorney’s office, the attorney general’s office and federal authorities to combat these crimes.

They are focusing on educating the most vulnerable groups in order to help prevent people from becoming victims.

Holcomb said scammers are getting very crafty in how they’re targeting their audience.

Over the past five years, reports of fraud, identity theft and other scams increased by 55%, according to the Federal Trade Commission. More than 5.4 million reports were taken in 2023, totaling over $10 billion.

In Virginia Beach, one of the most common scams has become the jury duty scam, in which imposters posing as deputies demand money for missed jury duty.

“You’ll receive a call and they’ll say, ‘this is Deputy Sheriff so-and-so from the sheriff’s office. You’ve missed jury duty. You owe us $500 or you’re going to go to jail.’ That’s total garbage,” Holcomb said.

There’s also an Amazon Prime scam making the rounds in the area, in which scammers ask you to verify your account and payment info. Another new scam they’re seeing involves the payment app Venmo.

“They send money, and it’s from a stolen credit card, and so you send the money back and then you lose your money because they report that credit card is stolen,” Holcomb said.

The elderly population is usually targeted, along with those with a criminal past, Holcomb said.

“They’re finding that they’re becoming victims, too, because they’re telling them they owe $500 for missing jury duty and they may have some criminal history in their background and don’t want it to be revealed, so they just pay the money,” Holcomb said.

The Virginia Beach sheriff wants people to have a place to go if they’re questioning whether or not a call is legit.

“The number one goal of our consumer protection unit is to educate, educate, educate,” Holcomb said. “We feel like that we can educate at the front end, we can solve some problems at the back end, and if something sounds fishy, hang up the phone, call our consumer protection unit and we’ll get your questions answered.”

Holcomb said these crimes are difficult to prosecute, so they want to educate those who are most vulnerable ahead of time to prevent them from falling victim.

“The citizens [have] got to be in control, and when they get this phone call, they can simply say, ‘Hey, hold on a minute. Let me write your number down and call you back,'” Holcomb said. “Call our consumer protection unit and we’ll vet it, and you’ll know if you should call back, but a lot of times, if it sounds fishy, it is fishy.”

He also has a message to the scammers: “To the scammers out there, I say that if we catch you, you’re coming to the crossbar hotel here at the Virginia Beach Correctional Center, so we’ve got no tolerance for any scammers out there.”

Holcomb also said if you’d like the consumer protection unit to come talk to your local senior center or civic league, or if you know a group that could benefit from learning more about local scams, contact his office.

The Sheriff’s Office has a category on its website called “Scams”, in which you can find resources and a form for people to submit suspected scams by category: phone, online or charity.

To reach the VBSO Consumer Protection Unit, call 757-385-7922.

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