A Yazoo County elderly woman urges the public to be aware of a potential scam that is circulating within the community.
The woman, who wished to remain anonymous, said a male arrived at her home, claiming to be a representative of a security lighting company.
“He said there had been a murder reported on my road, which was false information,” she said. “He wanted to come inside my home to talk about selling me some security lighting. He also said he was sent to my neighborhood by the Yazoo County Sheriff’s Department.”
Terry Gann, chief deputy with the Yazoo County Sheriff’s Department, said their department does not send representatives of any company to contact citizens.
“We received a report of this incident, but they had already left the area by the time the concerned citizen called us, which was about an hour afterwards,” Gann said. “But we never send anyone out like that to contact people.”
The woman said she spoke to the man through a locked door, and he then left her property in a black vehicle with other male passengers.
“The car even had stickers that looked like a lighting company, but his approach didn’t settle well with me,” she said. “With no report of a murder and the false claim that the sheriff’s department sent him, something in my stomach told me something was off. If I would have let in my home, there is no telling what might could have happened.”
Gann added that similar incidents occurred in the Highway 16 and Myrleville Road areas about six years ago.
“The suspects were scoping out properties, claiming they were from a security company,” Gann said. “That was when a rash of burglaries began in those areas.”
Gann encouraged the public to notify the sheriff’s department at 662-746-5611 to report similar incidents.
