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FAIRFIELD, IOWA -- Have you received a piece of mail, a phone call, or an e-mail, saying you have won or are inheriting a large sum of money? Does it seem too good to be true?

That’s because it probably is.

Scammers have no off season and try to rip off innocent individuals everyday.

KTVO receive a report of increased scammer activity.

A common victim of scams is the elderly.

In Jefferson County alone, 88 cases have been reported since Feburary 2009.

“One of the biggest ones is called a Nigerian check scam. It is where they send you a check saying, ‘congratulations, you won a large amount of money.’ However, to process your winnings you need to send them a check back,” said Chief Deputy Morton of the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.

Morton said some of the biggest flags to a scam include- if you have to send a check for processing fees, you do not know the person, or if they are asking for your social security number, bank numbers, or other personal information.

He stressed to be smart with your personal information.

“They should never, ever, give out their personal information to a stranger. If you have to give out personal information, sit in the office of somebody you know. The only people who really need to know that information are driver licenses stations, your attorneys, law enforcement. There are times you can give it out and feel good about it, but never do it over the phone, never do it over the internet."

Scammers know what they are doing and it can be easy to be fooled if you are not paying attention.

“If you show any interest in helping pay these processing fees on this “winnings” that you have. What they will do is FedEx you more information to make it look more official. It does, the check looks official, the paperwork looks official, everything looks official.”

If you are uncertain about a piece of information, contact your local sheriff’s office and they will investigate the situation.

If you run across a scam they want that as well to know who is out there and what current scams are.