07/31/2026
🚨 Community Scam Alert – Please Share 🚨
We've recently become aware of several scams affecting people in our area, and we want to remind everyone to stay vigilant.
Scammers are becoming more convincing every day, and many of them are using social media to target unsuspecting buyers.
Whether it's a rental home, a puppy, concert tickets, a vehicle, furniture, or other items for sale, the goal is often the same: convince you to send money upfront, then disappear.
Before you send any money:
✔️ See the item or property in person whenever possible.
✔️ Verify that the seller or landlord is legitimate.
✔️ Be cautious of prices that seem too good to be true.
✔️ Never feel pressured to act immediately because "someone else is interested."
✔️ Avoid paying with wire transfers, gift cards, or other payment methods that are difficult or impossible to recover.
✔️ If something doesn't feel right, trust your instincts and walk away.
According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), nearly 30% of people who reported losing money to a scam in 2025 said it started on social media, with reported losses reaching $2.1 billion. The FTC also reports that shopping scams were the most common scams on social media, including ads for everything from clothing and car parts to puppies that never arrived. In addition, a recent FTC analysis found that about half of reported fake rental listings were posted on Facebook.
Please take a few extra minutes to verify before you pay. Sharing this information may help protect a friend, family member, or neighbor from becoming the next victim.
Stay safe, Hancock. ❤️
Scammers reach people in many different ways – phone calls, texts, emails – but reports to the FTC’s Consumer Sentinel Network point to social media as a scammer favorite.