April 22, 2010 - Press Release:
The Osage Police
Department has responded to several recent reports of burglaries of
automobiles. We would
like to caution the citizens to keep their vehicles locked at all
items and do not leave valuables visible from the outside.
These burglaries
occurred late at night or early morning hours of April 21, 2010 and
April 22, 2010. If the
citizens hear or see anything suspicious, please call the Osage
Police Department at 641-732-3777 or dial 911.
Thank you for your assistance.
~You get a call or an email out of the blue.
~The English is shaky, at best.
~There's a promise of lots of money for minimal effort.
~The e-mail is from someone in Eastern Europe, Asia or Nigeria.
~It involves depositing a check, then sending money somewhere
through a wire-transfer service.
~You must "act now".
~It sounds too good to be true.
Scam Calls
& Emails - February 24, 2010
The CDC has received reports of fraudulent emails (phishing) referencing a CDC sponsored State Vaccination Program.
The messages request that users must create a personal H1N1 (swine flu) Vaccination Profile on the cdc.gov website. The message then states that anyone that has reached the age of 18 has to have his/her personal Vaccination Profile on the cdc.gov site.
CDC has
NOT implemented a state vaccination program requiring registration on www.cdc.gov. Users that click on the e-mail are at risk of having malicious code installed on their system. CDC reminds users to take the following steps to reduce the risk of being a victim of a phishing attack:•Do
not follow unsolicited links and do not open or respond to unsolicited email messages.•Use caution when visiting un-trusted websites.
•Use caution when entering personal information online.
This past week the Osage Police Department has received the following reports of telephone scams:
1st Case: Resident received a call stating that the caller was from "Old Navy Visa" and they were calling so she could activate her credit card. When she started to question the caller they then hung up.
2nd Case: Resident received a call where the caller stated "Hi Grandma" She then asked if it was - - - (name omitted for confidentiality). He stated that it was and that he needed $4500.00 because had been in an accident. Caller stated that he needed her to go to Wal-Mart to send the money. Resident stated that she doesn't go to Wal-Mart and the caller then stated he would call her back with different information. He called back 10 minutes later and stated he really needed the money. Resident questioned caller with her doubts that he was her grandson and asked for his full name and the names of his children. The caller than hung up.
Please be very careful as there seems to be different kinds of scams going around to get money and/or personal information. If you receive any calls of this sort please call the Osage Police Department. 641-732-3777
In the past few weeks we have received numerous reports from Osage citizen's stating they have taken calls from possible scam artists. The majority of calls start out by saying that you have won a very large sum of money. They may represent themselves as Publisher's Clearing House or other such persons. They say for you to receive these winnings you will need to wire a certain amount of money - anywhere between $250-$5000 have been reported - to an account and then they will send you the winnings. This is a scam! Do not send your money to these criminals. If you should receive such a call please notify the Osage Police Department at 641-732-377 immediately.
These offers have also been seen in letters sent to Osage residents. Sometimes the letters come with checks of a portion of the winnings. These checks are fraudulent and you will lose your money when they come back as such. Again, do NOT send any money and do not cash the check. If you receive a letter bring it in to the Police Department so we can make a copy of the letter. Your bank can also tell you if the check is fraudulent.