The Holiday Shopping Season is in full-swing and the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office encourages residents to take steps to safeguard themselves from potential thefts and scams.

"It's important for residents to be extra vigilant this time of year, because unfortunately, thieves will be looking for opportunities to take property rather than earning it for themselves.  Fortunately, there are some steps everyone can take to help protect themselves and their property," according to Cherokee County Sheriff David Groves.

• If shopping online, have packages delivered to your place of employment or another location where someone will be at, rather than having them dropped off on your porch unattended.
• Keep an extra eye out for suspicious activity.  If you see an unknown vehicle pulling into driveways or people walking around residences in your neighborhood, call law enforcement so they can be checked out.  If you're able to safely get a photograph of the vehicle, it can be shared with law enforcement.
• Remove valuables, including firearms, from your vehicle at night and make sure it's locked.
• Lock the doors and windows in your home and at night and turn on exterior lights.
• Monitor credit card accounts closely.  Question and check into any unfamiliar or unauthorized transactions. You can also use a notification feature with many delivery services, such as Amazon, which will send you a text notification any time a purchase is made to your account.

"Finally, it's important to remember that phone scams also ramp up this time of year.  A common holiday season scam is referred to as the "Grandparent Scam."  This scam involves a thief calling an elderly person posing as a grandchild.  The "grandchild" claims to be in some sort of trouble, such as being arrested and needing money to get out of jail.  The "grandchild" insists they can't hang up the phone because they only get one call and have to have be given a credit card number or bank account information over the phone so they can be released.  As a reminder, if anyone calls asking for bank account or credit card information, it's most likely a scam and I encourage you to hang up immediately," concluded Sheriff Groves.

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