ROGERSVILLE — Hawkins County deputies are investigating three separate scams reported this past week, including a man and woman who were knocking on doors south of Rogersville claiming to be ADT Security System sales representatives.
A woman who lives on Morningside Road in the Persia community of Hawkins County reportedly told HCSO Deputy Reba Matthews Tuesday night that a black male and a white female came to her residence around 6:30 p.m. Tuesday driving a blue vehicle.
The couple identified themselves as “ADT salesmen.” “(The woman) stated they were trying to sell additional security and wanted to observe the alarm system they had installed a year ago,” Matthews said. “(The woman) told them no. (She) stated she asked (the male) to leave several times and finally when he was adamant to enter the residence she closed the door.”
The woman then called ADT and was told that’s not the way they conduct business and no one meeting that description works for them. The woman said ADT told her it didn’t have anyone scheduled to work in her community that day.
HCSO Detective Lt. Eve Jackson is asking anyone who might have been solicited by the same couple recently to contact the HCSO at (423) 272-4848. Jackson said a detailed description of the couple, the car they were driving and a licence plate number would be helpful.
People need to be aware that there is a potential for alarm company imposters to take advantage of their trust, Jackson added. “This was the only incident like this that was reported, but I would be surprised if this was the only house they went to,” Jackson said. “This couple claimed to be from ADT in this instance, but there are other alarm companies and a lot of people put signs in their yard or stickers on their door stating this residence is protected by a certain alarm company. If they’re riding around looking for these signs or stickers, they could pretend to be from any one of those companies.”
Jackson added, “People need to be aware that these individuals may be targeting homes that have those type of security company signs and stickers.”
Two other attempted scams this past week in Hawkins County occurred over the telephone. A Rogersville man reported Wednesday that on Tuesday night he received a call from a person claiming to be from his credit card company. The caller told the man the company was deactivating his card and they needed to verify his card number, expiration date, PIN number and three-digit security code on the back. The man told the HCSO he gave all the numbers except the PIN.
On Wednesday the man called his credit card company to ask why the card was deactivated. He was told the card was still in good standing and no one from the company had called him the previous day. The man then deactivated the card himself and called the HCSO. The phone number of the bogus caller was (423) 653-1431, which as of Thursday was disconnected.
In another case, on Wednesday a Rogersville man received a call from a person claiming to be from Medicaid and seeking his banking information. The man refused to give the information. The number on the caller ID was (409) 574-1214, which is an Oklahoma City number, and as of Thursday wasn’t accepting incoming calls.
Jackson said people should be aware that no legitimate business or organization will ever call you and ask for your personal banking, credit card, or other personal information over the phone.
