Scam Targets Graduating Seniors In Sand Springs

A new scam targeting high school graduates has some parents in Sand Springs on edge.  Just days after her high school graduation, Dawn Rodger's daughter got a call that sounded too good to be true.

"He said he was with the government office, and that she had been approved for a grant and it was $8,000 and she could spend it any way she wanted," said Dawn Rodgers, mother.

"He goes, 'we don't need her social, we don't need anything like that, we just need a plastic credit card, a Visa or Discover with 16 digit number and you all can have the money by tomorrow.'"

Thankfully, Rodgers saw through the scam and hung up, but Sand Springs Police Captain Todd Enzbrenner says other families haven't been so lucky.

"What happens is they don't give you any money and they go buy cars and they go buy things with your credit," said  CaptainTodd Enzbrenner, Sand Springs Police Department.

Enzbrenner suggests parents fight back against scammers  with a phone call.

"One of the easiest ways they can prevent that is to freeze their kid's credit; they could even freeze their own credit," he said.

The Federal Trade Comission says a credit freeze is a tool that makes it harder for identity thieves to view your information.  All you have to do is call one of three credit reporting companies.

Police officers in Sand Springs say that freezing your credit is a good idea for everyone. In fact, they say, that small step could prevent your credit from being damaged from any kind of scam.

Officers also suggest students not answer phone calls from numbers they don't know. 

"These guys are professionals, they know how to manipulate people," said SOT CaptainTodd Enzbrenner Sand Springs Police. 

"All of the seniors that graduate, they're on Cloud 9 right now, anyway, and to be told that you've got this money that you don't have to pay back - I just see some of them not  thinking that through," said Dawn Rodger, mother of a graduating Sandite.

Learn How To Freeze Your Credit