The Watertown Police Department wants to advise the community about phone and E-mail scams and how to protect yourself from scammers posing as legitimate organizations or financial institutions.

Recently, the WPD has taken reports of scammers requesting your personal information because
there is some kind of a "problem" or that you are entitled to some kind of "refund" and that they can take care of the issue for you. Their main purpose is to use your personal information you give them to make transactions on your accounts. These cases are rarely able to be solved as they are often operating from a foreign country.

When you receive a request for personal information, this is the time to become suspicious. Do not give out any personal information. Disconnect the phone call and do not reply to the E-mail. Financial institutions typically will not ask for personal account information when they contact you. An easy way to verify if the request for information is trusted is to ask for a call back number and then research the number and the company before you call the institution back.

If you feel you may be a victim of a scam, please call the police department at 605-882-6210.