COVINGTON, Ky. — The Kenton County Sheriff’s Office is warning people to be on alert for an attempted email scam targeting county employees.
The office said a fellow government agency’s employees received an email from an out-of-office supervisor asking them to purchase gift cards.
The employees were then told to scratch the back of the cards to reveal the PIN codes, then text a picture of those codes to a provided cell phone number.
In this case, the employees quickly recognized the scam, even though the supervisor’s name was correct. They also contacted the supervisor directly to confirm the scam, and began alerting fellow county governments.
The sheriff's office gave a few tips to avoid being the victim of scam:
- Trust your gut: If a request from supervisor, family member, neighbor or provider of services seems unusual, do not return the call or email provided.
- Verify: Contact the person directly through your known contacts and verify the request.
- Don’t be fooled: Scammers can be friendly, professional and convincing.
- Look for red flags: Purchasing retail credit cards and giving PIN codes is the first clue it is a scam.
- Protect your personal info: Don’t engage scam emailers or callers. Don’t give them any type of personal information or payment over the phone.
