GRIMES COUNTY, Texas (KRHD) — There is a new phone scam happening in Grimes County. People are pretending to be with the local Sheriff's Office and asking for money for unpaid fines or warrants.
The Federal Trade Commission offers these tips to keep yourself safe from scammers:
- Block unwanted calls and text messages. Take steps to block unwanted calls and to filter unwanted text messages.
- Don’t give your personal or financial information in response to a request that you didn’t expect. Honest organizations won’t call, email, or text to ask for your personal information, like your Social Security, bank account, or credit card numbers. If you get an email or text message from a company you do business with and you think it’s real, it’s still best not to click on any links. Instead, contact them using a website you know is trustworthy.
- Resist the pressure to act immediately. Honest businesses will give you time to make a decision. Anyone who pressures you to pay or give them your personal information is a scammer.
- Know how scammers tell you to pay. Never pay someone who insists that you can only pay with a wire transfer service like Western Union or MoneyGram, a payment app, or a gift card. And never deposit a check and send money back to someone.
- Stop and talk to someone you trust. Before you do anything else, tell someone — a friend, a family member, a neighbor — what happened. Talking about it could help you realize it’s a scam.
- Report suspicious activity. If you encounter a scam or suspect online or telephone fraud, report it to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) at reportfraud.ftc.gov.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
A recent study from C-Net shows 96% of Americans get at least one scam message via email, phone call, or text each week.
Recently, Grimes County Sheriff Don Sowell posted on Facebook about scam callers pretending to be with the Sheriff’s Office or some other government agency and asking for personal information and money.
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Sheriff Sowell spoke with 15 ABC, saying
“We don't do that. No legitimate law enforcement or government agency will do that. It’s all by mail, certified mail.”

Local resident, Jennifer Rymer, tells 15 ABC she gets a lot of scam calls
“Phone calls, I probably get about 40 a week. I average about seven a day.”
Rymer told 15 ABC about a scam that happened to someone she knew.
“It was supposed to be some kind of a real estate class thing, and you invest in it, and then they took them to the cleaners. Really, just wiped out their life savings.”

The sheriff says to be wary of anyone asking you to verify your personal information or make any type of payment over the phone.
“Hang up the phone, cut off the computer, whatever, you know, just disregard it. It's almost a cult that preys on innocent people.”
Rymer tells 15 ABC that if you feel pressured, that’s a bad sign.
“If they're pressuring you on the call, no, we need to do this now, we want the money now, or we need your bank account information. That's a big red flag right there.”
Sheriff Sowell said in Grimes County, there is one step you can always take.
“Call me first., call me first. I’ll verify for you. Don't call me later, cause it's too late.”