CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The holidays are approaching, people are looking to spend money on their loved ones, while some people are thinking of ways to steal that money.
“This year alone in 2023 there have been millions of dollars, just from victims here in the City of Corpus (Christi),” Lt. Emily Perez of Corpus Christi Police Department (CCPD) said.
Perez said scams are increasing in Corpus Christi. They are appearing in all kinds of forms. She said the best way to prevent them is making people more aware of them.
“In my position, I'm very paranoid about everything I purchase online. But I mean, the more paranoid you are, the better. It’s just insuring that you’re sending money to the right people and you’re not giving your information out online,” Perez said.
Most scams will be online. Lt. Perez said they see romance scams quite often.
"People who try to become friends with someone, form a relationship. They become trusting and they're told a story where they convince them to send them money, for whatever reason and they do. Or, they get into sending each other photos, nude photos and then they use those to threaten them if they don't pay them," Perez said.
No one has been safe from scams. However, the elderly have been targeted the most.
“They’re sending them links, so those are called phishing scams. They’ll lock their computer stating that it’s Microsoft and give them a phone number to call. And, they will call that number and in turn it’ll be a hacker or scammer,” Perez said.
There’s many more ways to be scammed like ones that come through text messages or phone calls.
Here are definite red flags to watch out for.
“They will rush you, they will tell you not to tell anyone, they’ll keep you on the phone and we don’t want anyone giving out their personal information to anyone who calls you,” Perez said.
No banking institution or government entity will call you to ask for personal information. If you call those organizations using a trusted phone number, that is different and safe to communicate with.
Scams can come from social media as well. For those buying or selling items online, Perez suggests not accepting checks. She said many fraudulent checks are circulating and sometimes fake money, as well.
Those random calls can also be trying to scam you.
"We do have spoofing which means there are people that get phone numbers to look like it (something you recognize). So, you can always hang up, there's nothing wrong with hanging up and just call yourself, the official phone number from a website or bank statement," Perez said.
Other tips to follow are never pay anyone in gift cards or crypto currency. If you purchase something outside of a trusted website, be sure you are paying a credible business. Pay attention to email address asking for information or asking you to click on a link. The addresses may seem familiar, but could be different by one character.
It's best to be cautious because it's difficult to find suspects of scams.
“If we can work on it, investigate and figure out something we will. But in a lot of these cases, we find that they are cyber crimes and we don't work cyber crimes just because it could be anybody from any part of the world.”
If you fell like you’ve been scammed, Perez said to call the CCPD non-emergency phone number 361-886-2600.
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