The Chattooga County Sheriffs Office wants to send out a warning about recent attempts to scam residents out of money. Sheriff Mark Schrader says that his investigators have been in touch with the Secret Service concerning phone calls that have been reported to his office. The Secret Service believes the scammers are based out of Nigeria and commonly use addresses and phone numbers from New York. Most recently the attempts have been phone calls made by fictitious government agents attempting to collect debts that are not owed. These fictitious agents even threaten the arrest of the resident if they don't comply. Sheriff Schrader reports that the caller may have certain personal information belonging to the resident including their cell phone numbers as well as their social security numbers. The Sheriff says that other scamming methods are also still being used. The most common is the bogus check that is sent to a resident via Fed Ex, UPS or the US Postal Service. The sender typically claims to have a reason for sending the check either for a purchase, for winnings in a lottery or to help settle an estate. They will generally ask the resident to deposit the check into their bank account, keep a portion of the money and then send the rest back to them. They usually request the return be made by Western Union, Money Gram or some other financial service. These are just two types of the scams that are circulating. Please be aware of any offer that "seems to good to be true". "I urge any resident to contact my office immediately at 706-857-3411 if you receive any solicitation from these criminals".