Local coroner warns of scammers posing as him, asking for gift cards

WASHINGTON, Pa. — Scams tend to ramp up around the holiday season and this year it appears as though the Pennsylvania Coroner’s Association is the latest target. Washington County Coroner, Tim Warco had someone trying to pose as him asking to send him gift cards.

“Today I was called by two of the associate coroners of the commonwealth. One in Adams County and one in Beaver County that I was scammed and I had no idea what they were talking about,” Warco said.

It was quite the surprise for Warco on Wednesday - when he learned someone had used his name and likeness in a phishing attempt.

“Initially they sent an email address out saying hey can you help me reply back and then the few that did reply back got a message asking for help purchasing gift cards and providing gift card numbers,” Matthew Yancosek said.

Yancosek with the coroner’s office says it’s not the first time the Pennsylvania Coroner’s Association has been through this.

Yancosek said, “They look for people with well known names. People in positions of authority or perceived authority. Tim serves as Vice President of the association and they’re looking for people that might think, ok the president needs something I’m going to bend over backwards to help him and I’m not going to question him.”

A total of 44 emails were sent through the state association server. Warco says he’s never asked anyone from the association to buy him gift cards so the message was a red flag, even though the email appeared to come from Tim Warco.

The Beaver County Coroner put out a post onto social media Wednesday cautioning people to be on alert.

Some quick tips: Make sure the name matches up with an email address you expect and check to see how the message is written.

Yancosek added, “Language that doesn’t appear to be natural English - I need gift card instead of I need a gift card.”

Those with the coroner’s association want to know if anyone else received these fake emails. If you are one of those people you can reach out to the PA coroner’s association or the Washington county coroner’s office.

Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts.

Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW