03/12/2026
Scammed
As your Sheriff, I am acutely aware of how big an issue this is becoming, and how costly it can be in some circumstances. Scamming is a very lucrative business that generates a lot of revenue, not taxed, not reported, all profit.
Scammers target everyone in some manner or another. Texts messages, emails, social media, phone calls, a myriad of ways but most commonly that contact is through electronic means of communication.
However, the most adversely affected are those that are not as aware of these types of nefarious individuals and there devious schemes and are not as proficient with electronic communications.
An email that alerts you to some kind of emergent circumstance that you need to act on immediately. It just so happens that the sender has all the solutions and the only thing they need is all of your personal and bank account information to solve this dilemma.
A text message advising you of this grand prize award you have just won, a car, boxes of money and all you need to do to collect this “grand prize” is to send a small amount of money for processing. Schemes that we know in the back of our mind cannot possibly be true. But there’s someone on the other end assuring you, that yes, it is audacious, but it’s your lucky day, your life will be changed forever, if you just follow through with the plan.
This circumstance is very hard to deal with within the parameters of the law, not to mention the suspect often times is in another state or country. Moreover, if you enter into this agreement voluntarily it becomes even more complex for law enforcement to prosecute.
I’ve contemplated this for some time now. What is the solution. How do we mitigate the impact.
We can’t build a wall; we can’t put up a force field that keeps out electronic scam communications. But we can put on programs to help educate our community on how to identify, and how to protect themselves from these types of attacks and situations.
So, mark your calendar, March 31st 6:30 pm. at the Goldthwaite Elementary cafeteria we will have a guest speaker that is going to give a presentation on how to identify and how to protect yourself from these types of attacks.
He is an award-winning presenter who has a law enforcement background, so he completely understands the frustrations that exist with this kind of crime.
