Lee County Residents Beware Of This Scam Call

Lee County residents should beware of this current phone scam! Criminals are posing as Lee County Sheriff’s Office staff members.  According to reports, they are using a technique known as “spoofing.”  The scammers are using false caller ID numbers which appear as the Sheriff’s Office non-emergency number. That number is 239-477-1000.

Scammers are claiming the recipients of the phone call have subpoenas, outstanding warrants and are facing criminal charges. After that, the scammers tell the victims to purchase gift cards in order to avoid being arrested. Lee County Sheriffs office says they will never contact you requesting money! Especially not gift cards. Above all, If you receive a call from 239-477-1000, or from any number where an individual is posing as a law enforcement officer and they are requesting money -  hang up. Then call the LCSO Fraud Unit. The fraud unit's number is 239-258-3292.

Above all, really, any phone call where the other party requests gift cards is a scam. Stay safe everyone.

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So you didn't win Mega Millions. Someone hit your car in the lot. You thought TCU would cover. In other words, you're unlucky.  Maybe it's because of where we live. A new report from FloridaBet.com shows Florida is the unluckiest state in the country. And Friday the 13th is coming up fast.

Updated 2023 data from the guys over at FloridaBet.com have analyzed several factors, including life expectancy, divorce rates, disaster declarations, and many more (see methodology), the report names America’s unluckiest states to live – with Florida unfortunately identified as the frontrunners.

According to the updated index, Florida takes the crown as America’s unluckiest state. We received the highest score of 64.7 out of 100. For the Sunshine State, this is a massive jump from the report released in 2022, which ranked the 17^th. In addition, Florida had the 6^th highest % of divorce rates leading up to 2023 at 13%. Florida also reported the most lightning fatalities, with reports of 519 since 1952. And Friday The 13th is coming up fast.

The Mountain state, who topped the board in 2022, now ranked second. Having the highest accidental mortalities (122.2 people per 100,000) further adding to the misfortune, West Virginia also had the second lowest life expectancy (72.8 years) and was ranked as America’s unhappiest state. 

Oklahoma (60.2) Tennessee (58.7) and Arkansas (58) finished off the top five unluckiest states in 2023.

To discover America’s unluckiest states, a number of different factors were considered and weighted accordingly.

Due to both rankings considering a number of different metrics (Happiness Index = over 30 metrics / Worst States to Live Ranking = over 70 metrics) from work life and safety to education and infrastructure, both metrics were weighted as 15 with a maximum score of 30.

The metrics above were weighted as 10 (the second highest weighting), due to the significantly low probability of each event occurring. The maximum score was out of 50. The Powerball and Mega Millions metrics were scored focusing on fewest winners. 

The metrics above were weighted as 6.66 (the lowest weighting) with a maximum score of 20. These metrics were weighted the lowest due to possible life decisions swaying the outcomes.

Following this, each metric was summed and ranked to provide the final index score out of 100.