News from the Police Department

The Lee Police Department would like to remind all internet users of a serious scam that may come your way.
The scam is called “Phishing”. This involves the internet user receiving an e-mail from a company that the user may have a working relationship with, i.e. AOL or e-Bay. The e-mail looks very professional and may state something to the effect of either the company had their computer system crash, or they are just updating their information and need the user to “click on the link below” and re-enter their credit card and personal information to include passwords.
The Lee Police Department warns all residents that any type of e-mail as listed above is more than likely fraudulent. However, the “phishers” are persistent and if you don’t reply, they will send additional e-mails with warnings that your account is going to be closed etc…
If you receive an e-mail similar to the one above, please do not respond to it via the computer. If you are concerned that it may be valid, call the customer service telephone number that was provided to you when you first became a user of that service or business. If the e-mail is legitimate, you are still able to provide the information over the telephone to legitimate people. All companies that use the internet are aware of these “phishers” and would be happier if you called them directly to inquire rather than be scammed.
Identity theft is an enormous problem world wide. Please do not become a victim. And as always, if you have any questions do not hesitate to contact the Lee Police Department.
Keeping on the same theme of internet crime, there have been several scams going on about lotteries or when you attempt to sell an item on the internet.
The lottery scam involves you receiving an email stating that you won a lottery. However, the sender of the email needs you to send money for “taxes” before you can claim your winnings. Please know that if you receive an email similar to this, it is a scam. If you didn’t enter a lottery, you can’t have won. Additionally, any lottery that you enter will either take the taxes from your winnings or report it to the IRS for your use at tax time.
When you sell an item on the internet, the newest scam to emerge is that people will send you more money than what you are selling the item for. They will ask that you cash the check and send them the difference back. It may take some time before it is discovered, but the check will be found to be “bad”. Usually this happens after you have already sent the difference to the “buyer” of the item. If it is discovered at that time, you are responsible for amount of the check.
The old adage is true: “IF IT SOUNDS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, IT USUALLY IS!” If something doesn’t seem right about the email or the correspondence, please contact the Police Department before you become a victim. These internet predators are very sneaky and hard to track.
On a different topic, the Lee Police Department has located a couple found bicycles. The bicycle serial numbers hadn’t been entered as stolen into the National computer. If you have lost a bicycle, please do not hesitate to call the Lee Police Department and provide your bicycle description. If the descriptions match, you will be asked to contact Sergeant Brian Huppe to set up a date and time to look at the bicycle.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT.