A short time ago, a post on a Fallon resident’s Facebook page was brought to our attention. This post is concerning as it relates a conversation dealing with a potential scammer and while this agency has not taken any fraud reports like this, the potential is there.
We wanted to notify our community of this potential scam in an effort to minimize the people who are victimized and raise awareness of what is going on.
As most of you are aware, Churchill County has a COVID-19 test site set up at the fairgrounds, and testing is also being done at NAS Fallon, Banner Churchill Community Hospital and other locations. Once these tests are processed, the results are made available to a few appointed members of the board of health. It is then inherent upon them to notify the subject of the test results and if those test results are positive, they must try to identify and trace contacts and notify them that they have potentially been exposed and seek their cooperation in getting tested.
If the caller is from Churchill County, they will happily advise who they are and what they are calling about, but they will not be asking you for passwords, mother’s maiden name or for money. However, if you are like me and still a little hesitant to give out information over the phone, ask for a contact number to call them back.
I cannot stress this part enough:
This tracing is FREE, the testing is FREE! They will not be sending you a test to complete! Please don't give these scammers your credit card info or your money. If they are asking you to pay or telling you that you must pay for a COVID test, please know beyond a shadow of a doubt that they are lying to you and trying to scam you.
— Sheriff Richard Hickox
-->A short time ago, a post on a Fallon resident’s Facebook page was brought to our attention. This post is concerning as it relates a conversation dealing with a potential scammer and while this agency has not taken any fraud reports like this, the potential is there.
We wanted to notify our community of this potential scam in an effort to minimize the people who are victimized and raise awareness of what is going on.
As most of you are aware, Churchill County has a COVID-19 test site set up at the fairgrounds, and testing is also being done at NAS Fallon, Banner Churchill Community Hospital and other locations. Once these tests are processed, the results are made available to a few appointed members of the board of health. It is then inherent upon them to notify the subject of the test results and if those test results are positive, they must try to identify and trace contacts and notify them that they have potentially been exposed and seek their cooperation in getting tested.
If the caller is from Churchill County, they will happily advise who they are and what they are calling about, but they will not be asking you for passwords, mother’s maiden name or for money. However, if you are like me and still a little hesitant to give out information over the phone, ask for a contact number to call them back.
I cannot stress this part enough:
This tracing is FREE, the testing is FREE! They will not be sending you a test to complete! Please don't give these scammers your credit card info or your money. If they are asking you to pay or telling you that you must pay for a COVID test, please know beyond a shadow of a doubt that they are lying to you and trying to scam you.
— Sheriff Richard Hickox