Ottawa County Sheriff's Office Hosts Scam Prevention Seminars

Free events cover romance, tech, and investment scams to protect residents

Published on Feb. 4, 2026

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The Ottawa County Sheriff's Office is hosting a series of free seminars to educate residents on how to avoid becoming victims of various scams, including romance, technology, and investment-related schemes. Detective Joe Monger will lead the sessions, which will cover tactics used by scammers to create a sense of urgency and pressure people into making hasty decisions.

Why it matters

With more people spending extended time online during the pandemic and the approach of Valentine's Day, romance scams have been on the rise. These seminars aim to arm residents with the knowledge and tools to identify and avoid falling prey to different types of scams that can have serious financial and emotional consequences.

The details

The seminars will cover a range of scam tactics, such as the 'grandparent scam' where someone claims a relative is in distress and needs money immediately. Monger will also address email, phishing, telephone, text message, and investment scams, as well as the growing threat of artificial intelligence-powered scams. He advises residents to take their time, evaluate the situation, and not be afraid to be 'rude' by hanging up the phone if they feel something is not right.

  • The seminars are scheduled for February 11, February 25, and April 7, 2026.
  • All three seminars will be held from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. at the Ottawa County Administration Building.

The players

Detective Joe Monger

A detective with the Ottawa County Sheriff's Office who will be leading the scam prevention seminars.

Ottawa County Sheriff's Office

The law enforcement agency hosting the free seminars to educate residents on how to avoid becoming victims of various scams.

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What they’re saying

“We really focus on social media. They call it the grandparent scam where someone gets called in and says that their grandchild is in distress and they need money. We work on all of the different email, phishing, telephone scams, text message scams. We also do investment scams and I also do a small section on artificial intelligence that's become more mainstream.”

— Detective Joe Monger, Detective (woodtv.com)

“That is a huge tactic which is the sense of urgency and that something has to be taken care of now, which isn't always the case. I always encourage people that even if it's someone calling pretending to be a government employee or something like that, hang up the phone if you don't feel right about it. Don't be afraid to be rude if you have to, just to take that extra second to evaluate to make sure.”

— Detective Joe Monger, Detective (woodtv.com)

“Build trust, build a relationship and then they start asking for money. And it's really easy when you're emotionally connected into that relationship to be able to get pulled in.”

— Detective Joe Monger, Detective (woodtv.com)

“I always educate people just to evaluate the information, take a minute to breathe. Even if that means calling a trusted friend or somebody else to ask for advice. You may find that a little bit of work on the front end will prevent a lot of headache on the back end.”

— Detective Joe Monger, Detective (woodtv.com)

What’s next

The judge in the case will decide on Tuesday whether or not to allow Walker Reed Quinn out on bail.

The takeaway

These seminars provide valuable information to help Ottawa County residents protect themselves from the growing threat of various scams, which have become more prevalent during the pandemic and can have serious financial and emotional consequences if left unchecked.