The Union County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a counterfeit bill which was used to purchase goods at a Lockhart convenience store earlier this week.

The incident report states a deputy was dispatched Tuesday afternoon to a convenience store at 4509 Jonesville-Lockhart Highway, Lockhart, in reference to a possible counterfeit bill. The complainant, an employee of the store, gave the deputy a $20 bill shown by a counterfeit pen to be counterfeit. The deputy had the clerk us the pen to again check the bill which was again shown to be counterfeit.

The report states the person who gave the clerk the bill was present when the deputy arrived. The woman said she’d received the bill from a local bank during a withdrawal made by her father who the report states was also present. The clerk said the woman had paid for her purchase with real currency prior to the deputy’s arrival.

The deputy took the bill as evidence and told the woman who’d given it to the clerk that if it turned out to be legitimate it would be returned to her. The deputy then took it back to the courthouse where he used another pen to check the bill which was again shown to be counterfeit.

Scam

A Union woman learned the hard way that once you pay a scam artist they keep demanding more money.

The incident report states a deputy met with the victim on July 15 in reference to a scam. The victim said that since mid-May she has been receiving calls to her cellphone stating she owed money with the caller claiming to be a debt collector. She said the callers had a lot of her personal information and that one of the callers convinced her she owed $125 to a bank. The woman said she used a prepaid debit card to pay the debt, but that since then the supposed debt collectors have continued to call demanding more money. She said she’d never had any business dealings with the bank the callers claimed to represent.

The deputy referred the matter to investigators.

Possible Scam

Two men who may have been trying to work a scam were turned away at the door by a Union woman who refused to let them in her home.

The report states a deputy was dispatched July 15 to a Union residence in reference to a possible scam. The victim said two men in a black Chevrolet Impala with an Illinois license plate were driving around trying to buy gold from people. The woman said two white males came to her door and asked if they could come in and buy some gold from her. She said she told them no and they needed to leave. The men then went next door and to houses across the street.

The responding deputy told the woman a report would be done to document what happened and advised her to call the sheriff’s office if she had any more problems with the two men.

Identity Theft

A Pacolet woman who found herself the victim of identity theft after her credit union had informed her of fraudulent activity on her account. The woman said she requested her account be blocked and the credit union advised her to to file a report with law enforcement.

The responding deputy advised the woman to obtain a fraudulent activity report from the bank and bring it to the sheriff’s office.

More Identity Theft

A Union woman may have also been the victim of identity theft.

The incident report states the victim arrived at the Union Public Safety Department on Monday to report identity theft.

The victim said she’d received a call on July 13 from a man claiming to be a collection agent who said she owed $1,043 to a bank. The woman said she told the collection agent she didn’t have an account with that bank. She said the man gave her a number to call if she had any problems. The woman she called the number and the person she spoke with advised her to send them a copy of her Social Security number, a utility bill and a police report so they could fix the problems.

The officer who took the victim’s statement advised her to go to the local branch of the bank the collection agent claimed to represent so they could help her and not fax anything unless they told her to do so.