FAIRMONT — Phone scams are making their way around the local area yet again, according to Martin County Sheriff Jeff Markquart. Whether the person on the line is sweet and kind, or whether they threaten or scare you, they are always after one thing: your personal information and money. Markquart shares what his office has been dealing with.

“We’ve been having the usual fraud stuff, calls about not having paid social security and we’re going to come and arrest them,” he said. “That’s not going to happen. Social Security does not call, they send letters.”

There’s also the grandparent scam, where grandparents get a call, purportedly from a grandchild, stating that they have been on vacation and have gotten into an accident. The scammer then asks for money.

“You wouldn’t believe how many grandparents don’t even call their grandchildren to find out if they’re really home or not,” Markquart said. Then there’s prizes. If somebody calls and says you’ve won $1 million but you’ve never entered that sweepstakes or game, it’s probably not legitimate.

“We have thousands and thousands of dollars that leave Martin County each year because of these scams that are going on,” he said. “It’s just terrible that these people prey on our community.

“They’re really good at what they do, because that’s all they do. So if you get these calls just hang up on these people because the longer you talk to them, the better the chance of them getting their hooks into you and getting something.”

Markquart notes that sometimes scammers will ask for smaller amounts of money, so that potential victims don’t feel like they’re being asked for very much. But then the scammers will come back to that well and ask for a little more.

According to Sheriff Markquart and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) , the best solution is to just hang up. Even if it’s not a scammer calling, if a company is calling you illegally, it’s not a company you want to do business with. When you get a robocall, don’t press any numbers. Instead of letting you speak to a live operator or remove you from their call list, it might lead to more robocalls.

The problem is also made worse because of caller ID, which can no longer be trusted. The FTC states that scammers can make any name or number show up on your caller ID. That’s called spoofing. So even if it looks like it’s a government agency like the Social Security Administration calling, or like the call is from a local number, it could be a scammer calling from anywhere in the world.

If people are scared, confused, or even slightly suspicious that a call might be legitimate, they are advised to hang up and call the Sheriff’s Office.

“If people get a letter that they are concerned about, they can stop in and we can look at it,” Markquart said. “But the phone calls are just fraud, they are scams. It’s always the same scams, but people just keep falling for them.”

Again, there is no prize, people won’t be arrested, and people should never send cash or pay with a gift card. Do not give out any personal information over the phone. Above all else, just hang up the line if people are asking for money. Better an offended friend or relative than losing your life savings.