News Photo by Reagan Voetberg Community Service Trooper Jason Kunath holds up a sheet of paper with information about scams on Friday at the Michigan State Police Alpena Post office.

ALPENA — Online scams have been circulating throughout Northeast Michigan, and the Michigan State Police (MSP) and Alpena County Sheriff have some advice on identifying and avoiding them.

MSP Seventh District Public Information Officer Spl/Lt. Ashley Miller said that in Northern Michigan as well as statewide there has been an increase in scams. Scammers often target the elderly population, she said.

Scammers are difficult to trace since many of them are based out of the country, Miller said. A scamming case is most likely to be pursued if the scammer has taken well over $100,000, she said.

One frequently seen scam is the gift card or bitcoin scam. A scammer will call an individual and tell them they are behind on payments. They ask the individual to make the payments in gift cards or bitcoin. Once an individual buys the giftcard or bitcoin and sends it to the scammer, they cannot get their money back. Gift cards cannot be tracked down.

Some scammers will pose as a government agency like the MSP or Internal Revenue Service and ask for money. Do not respond to these types of calls, Miller said.

Alpena County Sheriff Erik Smith said that one he’s seen lately is scammers calling or texting an individual pretending to be a law enforcement agency. The scammer tells the individual that they have a warrant or an issue with their driver’s license and that they must send money now to avoid arrest.

“If they want money, that’s the first clue of it being a scam,” Smith said.

If you’re unsure whether something is a scam, reach out to the agency or ask someone else to look at the message. Do not be impulsive, he said.

MSP Alpena Post Community Service Trooper Jason Kunath has seen lottery scams where the scammer will send a message telling a person that they’ve won money, but they need to pay a fee to process paperwork.

Kunath said when it comes to winning money at a casino or in the lottery, there are never any processing fees involved.

When it comes to scams like those, “If it’s too good to be true, it’s probably not true,” Sheriff Smith said.

Another common scam lately is the toll booth scam, Miller said. A scammer will message you saying you owe toll fees. If you receive one of those, do not click any links, send the message to junk, leave it on voicemail, and do not give out any personal or financial information.

If you are wondering whether something is a scam or not there are a couple of tell-tale signs.

If the message creates a sense of urgency, then it is likely a scam. If you are contacted out of the blue, that can also be a sign. If there is pressure to respond immediately or you are urged to keep a call or message secret, then it could be a scam. Do not engage with scammers that ask you to provide financial or personal information or ask you to send money.

“Anyone you’re doing business with already has all that information so you shouldn’t have to provide it,” Kunath said.

“Some of these scams come and go,” he said. “You’ll hear about them, and then people will wisen up. And then you won’t hear about it for a while.”

Further information about scams can be found at michigan.gov/consumerprotection/scams.

If you would like to set up a presentation with Tpr. Kunath about scams for your group or organization, contact him at kunathj@michigan.gov or at 989-354-4101.

Reagan Voetberg can be reached at 989-358-5683 or rvoetberg@TheAlpenaNews.com.