Here at the Panhandle Post, our reporters and editors have seen and heard about a variety of ways innocent victims fall prey to identity theft and robbery via telephone.

Box Butte County Sheriff Tammy Mowry reports the latest phone scam impacting Alliance residents.  It starts as a phone call from a panicked, crying grandchild.  They were in a traffic accident, they explain, and now they’re in jail.

The victims of the scam, which targets the elderly, are asked to post bail via telephone.  This part of the scam happens via a second phone call from an alleged attorney named Steve Harper, calling from a Des Moines, Iowa phone number– but this may vary.  It is the “attorney” who arranges to collect bail money for the phony accident.  The goal, as with most of these telephone scams, is to obtain the victim’s bank account number and other personal information to withdraw funds.

Sheriff Mowry tells the Post that this scam fools people for a number of reasons: the immediacy of the “emergency”, the use of believable terminology such as a “jail case number”, and the desire to help a relative.  However, citizens are advised not to get roped in.  Simply hang up–and if you’re the least bit uncertain, call and check in on your loved ones.

One last note: Sheriff Mowry also tells us there is a phone scam involving a free Wal-Mart gift card if you’ll only pay shipping and handling.  Again, the golden rule: Don’t give out financial information over the phone, unless you have initiated contact with a business you know and trust.  (And remember, if something seems too good to be true…it probably is!)