The Watauga County Sheriff’s Office received a report of a possible scam in which a young man and a woman in her thirties are telling elderly residents that they are surveying the property next door.

According Captain Dee Dee Rominger of the Watauga County Sheriff’s Office, while one subject distracts the elderly resident, the other goes through the residence looking for money and other valuables.

The man and woman are believed to be driving a white van.

Rominger reported she has also received a report from the Ashe County Sheriff’s Office of a scam in which people approach property owners in Todd and the Railroad Grade area of Watauga and Ashe counties, offering to pave their driveways.  According to the Ashe County Sheriff’s Office, these subjects use inferior materials and charge large sums of money for their services.

Rominger also said the sheriff’s office has received several reports in regard to a letter sent to residents from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Division of Aging and Adult Services saying they had a computer stolen and that stolen computer could contain the resident’s personal identifying information.

Rominger explained after an investigation, the sheriff’s office found that this letter is legitimate and is asking residents who received this letter to review their credit reports from each of the three major credit reporting agencies and asked to be placed on an “initial fraud alert.”  Rominger also suggests residents to request credit reporting agencies to place a security freeze on there credit report to stop access to new credit in their names.

Rominger said there is a local credit-reporting agency called the Credit Bureau that residents can contact and meet face to face to have their credit checked for a nominal fee.  The Credit Bureau is located at 180 Hidden Shadows Drive in Boone.  Manager, Ken McInturff can be contacted at alpinecr@bellsouth.net or by phone at (828) 264-5446.