Bay County Sheriff Launches Real-Time Scam Alert Systems

Bay County, FL- Sheriff Tommy Ford of the Bay County Sheriff’s Office has placed a priority on providing information to the residents and businesses of Bay County in real time.  

As a part of this ongoing effort Sheriff Tommy Ford today announced the revival of a program called FIRST Alert.  FIRST Alert will provide real-time information to retail businesses and financial institutions alerting them to criminal trends and activity which directly impacts them.  

FIRST Alert will push out vital information regarding financial crimes as information is received by law enforcement and then sent to local banks and financial institutions as the crimes are occurring to allow businesses to quickly respond and take action to protect their interests. FIRST Alert also provides a streamlined form of communication for businesses to quickly contact financial crimes investigators if they see something suspicious in the course of their business. 

A second communication program was also launched last week concerning the recent uptick in scams involving real estate sales. The Realty Alert system will provide updated information concerning scams, fraud, or other criminal activity pertaining to real estate transactions. Working directly with local real estate agents, brokers, and title companies, this system will be used to share information about suspicious real estate postings, or to facilitate prompt communication with those working in this field.

Both FIRST Alert and Realty Alert emails will be overseen by investigators of the Financial Crimes Unit of the Bay County Sheriff’s Office. The Financial Crimes Unit was started by Sheriff Ford in 2017, after seeing the growing impact of financial crimes to both citizens and businesses in Bay County. The Financial Crimes Unit is comprised of two investigators who specialize in white collar investigations involving fraud, theft, embezzlement, as well as fraud perpetrated via telecommunications or the internet. 

Any business owner or member of the Realty community that wishes to receive these communications can email the Financial Crimes Unit at fcu@bayso.org to be added to the list.