It is such a frequent scam that numerous websites are devoted to its prevention.

And the Halifax County Sheriff’s Office has received several reports of individuals from an 876 area code calling people in attempts to obtain money for alleged prizes.

“I have recently investigated one such account where the victim was advised she had won over $250,000 in cash and prizes. The subject advised the victim she needed to place $300 on a CVS Greenback card,” Detective J. Sealey said. “The victim felt this was a scam and advised the caller she would not do this. The caller became irate and began berating the victim with obscenities.”

Sealey said this is only one variation of the scams coming from callers with this area code.

The code 876 is actually based in Jamaica where the callers are from. The scam in this case would have been to place money onto prepaid cards and supply the caller with the card number and pin number, which would then be used by the suspect to obtain the money.

There are several other variations of this scam all using the 876 area code, in which the caller would ask the victim to send shipping and handling fees via Western Union. “In most every case the victim is advised they have won either money or goods and is being asked to send money prior to the delivery of said items.”

The Halifax County Sheriff’s Office would like the public to be wary of any deals involving money or prizes in any form from subjects calling from the area code 876. Do not send money in any form to unknown or unverified people or businesses in exchange for money or prizes.

Other ways one can be sure they are not being scammed is to input the phone number or business name into an Internet search engine of their choice and add the word scam or fraud to the end. Usually this will net results where other people have received the same or similar calls and some who fell victim to the scam.

Sealey said no one has been taken in the recent spate of scam calls but they have in the past.

He said citizens should be especially wary if they have won money from something they never entered.