Residents warned of scam

Someone posing as part of The Fort Scott Tribune's billing department has been reported by an advertising customer.

Darrell Winter, a Tribune advertising customer, contacted the newspaper Monday after receiving a phone call from someone claiming to be a representative from The Fort Scott Tribune's billing department. He said the call came on his cell phone from a restricted phone number and the woman on the other end had an accent that was not native to Fort Scott.

"She tried to represent herself as a Fort Scott Tribune representative," he said. He said the caller was "a woman with a slight accent, not a Fort Scott accent whatsoever ... not unlike when you call for service information on a product overseas."

Winter said he received the phone call on a Friday and asked what it was in regard to.

She told him The Tribune had changed its billing location and his credit card numbers were not working. She then requested his credit card information for verification. He asked what the amount of the bill was, having just received one from the paper days earlier.

The woman responded with an amount that was about twice as much as the bill he received.

Winter then informed the woman that he had mailed a check for the amount that he was billed for and the woman ended the call.

"At that point she was off the line. She didn't reply any further ... I looked at my phone and she was off the line," Winter said.

Having never used a credit card for his advertising, Winter said he was happy he had the time to think about the phone call and the questions being asked.

"If I had used a credit card ... and if I'm busy, I might have flipped it right out and she could have gotten my three digit code off the back and everything and hit me hard," he said.

Tribune Publisher Julie Simpson said the newspaper would not make such a phone call to any of its customers.

"Our customers and his/her confidentiality is very important to us," Simpson said. "We hope by alerting everyone that we can stop this scam before it gets out of control."

Fort Scott Police Chief Ron Puterbaugh advises residents never to give out personal information over the telephone.

"You should never give out your numbers ... Any legitimate organization will not call you on the phone to request billing information that they already have," he said. "You should never give any revealing information to anybody that calls you on the phone no matter who they say they're from."

Puterbaugh said Winter did the right thing by contacting The Tribune.

He added that if anyone receives a similar call, they should contact the company being represented immediately and inform them of the phone call.