Community

Belmont Auditor Warns Of Phone Scam Targeting Residents

ST. CLAIRSVILLE - The Belmont County Auditor’s Office is issuing a notice to help protect residents from potential fraud and identity theft.

Auditor Cindi L. Henry said that her office has recently received a report of individuals making phone calls claiming to represent the Belmont County Auditor’s Office.

During the calls, the caller has requested personal identifying information, including the resident’s name and Social Security number.

Henry said that the calls are fraudulent.

She added that the Auditor’s Office will never call residents and request a Social Security number or any other sensitive personal information over the phone.

“Employees in the real estate division received a phone call from a local lady that stated that she was relatively certain it was a scam call that she received. She listened to their jargon and whatever they wanted to say. But they were telling her that they needed to verify her address and her Social Security number and whatnot,” Henry said. “We've got new protocols in the state of Ohio for email scams and different ways that people are scamming people that we have to be very proactive about this.”

She added that after receiving the tip, Henry contacted the Belmont County Sheriff’s Office to follow the state of Ohio’s protocol so the Sheriff’s Office could investigate the matter.

“We're not going to ask you for that stuff over the phone, if we would need it, which we shouldn't, we would do it in person,” Henry said. “We wouldn’t be doing it via email or anything like that because it's too unsecure, in my opinion.”

She added that residents who receive a call of this nature should not provide any personal information and should end the call immediately.

Henry encourages residents to remain vigilant and to be cautious of any unsolicited caller requesting personal or financial information.

If you receive a call claiming to be from the Belmont County Auditor’s Office and are unsure whether it is legitimate, Henry said to hang up and contact her office at 740-699-2130.

She added that her office does have situations where it has to make refunds to taxpayers, but it is run through the budgetary office, which she ensured is “all on the up and up.”

“We know where it goes to and where it comes from. If we have a situation like that, whatever we have on file here for your current address is what we use and if it has to be corrected, the taxpayer will let us know and we'll correct it,” Henry said.

She added that the office works with an IP company that has a system that keeps the office’s intellectual property locked down.

“It really gives us a headache doing stuff sometimes because we're having to go through all of these blocks that they put up so that we don't get hacked,” Henry said. “It's just a different world we're living in.”

She added that this past April, the auditor’s office’s website was cloned.

The fraudulent version of the county auditor's website closely resembled the official website but added an "s" to the web address, changing it from "Auditor" to "Auditors."

“They're out there in Belmont County, the same as they are everywhere else in this world. So we're just being proactive,” Henry said.

She added that the official county auditor website is Belmontcountyauditor.org.