Lincoln County Sheriffs Office Chief Deputy Rand Maker (right) discusses plans for continuing education on computer-based schemes and scams at a meeting of the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday, April 15. Scammers targeting Lincoln County residents over the phone and computer have taken “hundreds of thousands of dollars,” Maker said. Two LCSO officers will take classes on preventing some similar schemes this summer. (Molly Rains photo)
With scammers siphoning “hundreds of thousands of dollars” from Lincoln County residents, the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office is sending detectives to training sessions in hopes of preventing further schemes.
The Lincoln County Board of Commissioners approved two out-of-state training trips for LCSO officers during its Tuesday, April 15 meeting. Detectives will travel to Alabama for two workshops this summer: one attending a workshop on combating electronic crime involving credit card “skimmers” and another heading to a session focused on digital currency scams.
Both training sessions will be held at the National Computer Forensics Institute in Hoover, Ala., which is run by the U.S. Secret Service, according to LCSO Chief Deputy Rand Maker. The Secret Service funds much of the training, including transportation to and from the session, meals, and lodging. The county will be responsible only for the officers’ wages during the weeklong courses, he said.
Detective Jared Mitkus will be attending the first session, a course on forensic analysis of “skimmers,” Maker said.
A skimmer is an electronic device that criminals can use to gather credit card data from card readers at point-of-sale terminals, such as gas pumps or registers. By using a wireless connection or by retrieving the inconspicuous device, the thief can then steal that card information for financial gain, Maker said.
Skimmer use is widespread, and LCSO has handled cases in Lincoln County, according to Maker. However, LCSO does not currently have the ability to analyze the devices in house. Instead, they must send the devices away for analysis, a process that slows down their investigation, Maker said.
“What this will do is increase our ability to gather data and improve our investigations by getting firsthand knowledge on how to pull that data, how to identify suspects,” he said.
The second course deals with crimes involving digital currencies such as bitcoin, Maker said. Detective Matt Ryan will attend this course.
“We are having crimes in Lincoln County involving bitcoin and digital currency. We have people that are being scammed… I think you’re going to be shocked at how much money is being stolen from citizens in all kinds of different scams,” Maker said.
The sheriff’s office expects the training session will give them tools on how to track and investigate crimes involving digital currencies, which are forms of money that exist only in electronic form. The course will help LCSO officers learn about recovering money stolen in the form of digital currency and preserve evidence from crimes involving it, Maker said.
“It’s a different world,” he said.
Commissioner David Levesque said it was important that Lincoln County residents were aware the sheriff’s office was taking digital crimes seriously.
“I would think that a lot of people don’t want to report it, or are scared to report it. So if they can hear that they’re not going to be laughed at … that there is going to be an investigation, I think they may be more willing to come out,” he said.
“Our guys and girls, they do the work to track these things down,” Maker said. “Tools like this, and being able to possibly freeze, recover, restore the money, is also something that we want to be better at.”
Maker said residents should always report scams or suspected scams to the sheriff’s office. He urged residents to be wary of requests made over the internet or over the phone for large payments, including requests for payments made via gift cards, which Maker said is a hallmark of fraud.
“If something seems too good to be true,” Maker said, “it probably is.”
Some callers even impersonate law enforcement, Maker said, but real officers will not request payment over the phone.
“We don’t call you when we’re coming to get you,” Maker said.
Maker said he would present a first-quarter review of the scale of fraud and scams in Lincoln County at the commissioners’ May meeting.
The commissioners approved both out-of-state travel requests unanimously.
The next meeting of the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners will be held at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, May 6, in the Lincoln County Courthouse. For more information, go to lincolncountymaine.me/county-commissioners or call 882-6311.
