Avery County Sheriff, Kevin Frye, wants to inform the public of a scam his office has recently discovered.

Frye said there has been a tremendous increase in mail, phone, and Internet scams being attempted and the pitches range from a “mystery shopper” scam to scams using law enforcement’s names to help in buying bulletproof vests.

Frye said all of these scams have victims send money, usually a check or money order.

The sheriff reminds residents not to send any entity money if you aren’t positive the money is going toward the intended cause.