Beware of local phone scams

Two Gilchrist County residents have reported phone scams within the last week.
According to Deputy Meghan Wooten of the Gilchrist County Sheriff’s Office, one senior said she received a phone call from someone claiming they worked for a Canadian agency and that her grandson was in jail there and she needed to wire money to get him out. It wasn’t until the woman went to the bank to wire the $5,400 that bank officials urged her to contact the police.
The phone call was a scam, Wooten said and very similar in nature to one another resident got last week.
Anyone who receives such a call from this scam artist, which comes from a 514 area code is asked to get a phone number, the name of the agency and a badge number from the caller, before hanging up and calling the Gilchrist County Sheriff’s Office.
Do not wire money, Wooten said.