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ELKINS -- Randolph County Sheriff Rob Elbon has released a statement reminding the public to beware of scammers, based on a local incident that took place recently.
This week, Elbon posted to social media information about an incident that affected a local resident. The post stated a citizen in Randolph County had been attempting to sell his home when he found out his house was already listed on TikTok and was being advertised as a rental property.
When the homeowner called the phone number provided in the TikTok ad, Elbon said a “foreign-sounding man” from out-of-state answered and told the owner to send him $100 and fill out a rental application.
“The scammer was very informative and knowledgeable about the property,” Elbon wrote in the post. “The imposter had photos of the rightful owner’s property and home… The property owner went and took a photo of himself in front of his home and while doing this the scammer started to text him about rental details for the property. The owner called the scammer back and politely called him out and told him ‘nice try.'”
Elbon told The Inter-Mountain that scamming is happening more and more every day, and that the scammers are always looking for new ways to get people’s money, especially online.
“The guy with the house for sale was a money grab scam,” Elbon said. “The scammer was trying to get some quick money for the rental application on the property. I put the information up (on social media) so everyone could see how these scammers will try different ways to get money from people. But it’s happening more and more every day, mostly because people are using their devices and things and it’s easy to post stuff.”
Elbon said residents can reach out to the Randolph County Sheriff’s Office if someone has scammed them or is attempting to do so.