Oconee County Sheriff’s Office Issues March 2026 Scams Update
- jwatt27
- 4 hours ago
- 2 min read
(Walhalla, SC)-------------------------------------In our continuing efforts to educate and inform our citizens, and to prevent them from becoming victims of scams, the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office is releasing today our March 2026 Scams Update.
The Oconee County Sheriff’s Office has recently taken reports of what is known as sextortion scams. In one report, the Sheriff’s Office was notified by a man who was communicating with a woman on a social media app. The woman started texting with the man from a telephone number. Nude photos were exchanged between the man and the woman he was communicating with.
The woman later stated that she would contact law enforcement and accused the man of being a child molester. The woman was attempting to obtain $1,000 from the man and the man’s name and address were compromised. No money was exchanged or provided.
In another case of sextortion, a man and woman made contact via a social media app and exchanged phone numbers. Nude pictures were also exchanged. The woman made threats to send the nude pictures to his family and post them online. The man did send approximately $160 and asked to hold off sending out the pictures.
In another similar scam, a man began conversing with a female on a social media app. The man provided the female with his phone number; however, the female only provided an e-mail address.
During the course of their conversations, explicit photographs were exchanged. The female threatened to publish the pictures publicly if the man did not provide compensation, as well as labeling him as a pedophile. The female requested a $1,000 in bitcoin. The man sent the woman $100.
The Oconee County Sheriff’s Office recommends that no one should ever exchange sexually explicit pictures or video with anyone, especially with someone you meet online that you do not know. Also, if you being blackmailed in a sextortion scam, the Sheriff’s Office recommends that you do not pay the person who is blackmailing you, that you contact the local law enforcement agency in your jurisdiction in order to file a report and that you save all correspondence, pictures and evidence. Do not erase anything that pertains to the conversation or any pictures or videos shared.
Investigators with the Fraud Unit of the Criminal Investigations Bureau have been made aware of a scam in which persons are trying to sell properties that do not belong to them.
According to Investigators, most realtors in our area do their due diligence and communicate with the owner to confirm through alternate sources from the initial phone contact.
Fraud Investigators encourage people to sign up for property alerts through the Oconee County website under the Register of Deeds section. The link for property alerts is below:
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