The Freeborn County Sheriff’s Office is cautioning county residents about a new scam.

Freeborn County Sheriff Kurt Freitag said he received notification Thursday of a scammer using the name United Partners Outreach calling Minnesota residents and asking for donations on behalf of their respective county sheriff.

Freitag said they are using the number 651-401-3278.

“I’d just hang up and then block the number,” Freitag said, of his advice to anyone who receives a phone call from someone claiming to be from United Partners Outreach. He advised against sending money and said neither the Minnesota Sheriff’s Association or any of the 87 association member sheriffs will solicit donations over the phone.

“If it’s too good to be true, it probably isn’t true,” Freitag said. “It’s your money. Don’t give it away to a swindler.”

Freitag advised caution if the caller seems pushy, you have no way of verifying who they are or you can’t verify their address.

He advised googling the phone number the person is calling from.

Freitag advised not giving Social Security numbers or banking information online.

He advised anyone with questions to message him on Facebook or call him at 507-377-5200, extension 5.

Freitag said other scams he sees include one involving the Internal Revenue Service, lottery scams where swindlers will ask for thousands of dollars to retrieve lottery winnings and scammers posing as grandchildren saying they are in trouble and requesting money.

He said those kinds of cases are difficult to prosecute because many originate outside the United States.

“Scammers are getting clever, and we have to stay a step ahead with common sense,” Freitag said in a Facebook post.

A number of scams were reported in fall 2015, some of them including:

Freeborn-Mower Cooperative Services was contacted by two local businesses that had suspicious phone calls. In both cases, the caller identified themselves as an Alliant Energy employee and asked for payment to prevent service from being interrupted.

An IRS scam Freitag cited was reported as including imposters posing as IRS agents demanding money. The scammer reportedly would tell the person if they didn’t comply by paying them the money they owe, he or she will have law enforcement find them and arrest them until they comply.

Freitag expects more IRS scams as tax season nears.