(Des Moines, Iowa) – Auditor of State Rob Sand today (Monday) warned Iowans about ways fraudulent emails can be designed to give scammers access to your tax dollars or bank account. The warning comes after a scammer attempted to defraud the state and Auditor Sand himself. A Human Resources Associate with the Department of Administrative Services (DAS) contacted Auditor Sand on May 13, 2022 to alert him to an email received by DAS requesting a change in Auditor Sand’s direct deposit. Auditor Sand confirmed the email was fake.

The (redacted) e-mail Sand received.

“I want to thank Marsha Webb from DAS for contacting me and identifying this email as fraudulent,” said Sand. “She did exactly what we advise all governmental entities to do when they receive requests to redirect payments. Her actions saved me and the taxpayers of Iowa money.” To ensure the validity of any instructions to revise bank routing information, Auditor Sand strongly advises representatives of all governmental entities to call any vendors or affected individuals to independently confirm instructions received electronically. Additionally, governmental entities should not respond to the email. Any correspondence should take place through previously held contact information to ensure the appropriate party is reached.

If a representative of a governmental entity learns it received an email improperly instructing them to revise bank routing information for future payments, this information should be reported to the FBI through https://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx. In addition, the entity should immediately contact the Office of Auditor of State at 515-281-5834 to report the suspected irregularity as required by section 11.6(7) of the Code of Iowa.

The Office of the Auditor of State offers these tips to prevent email scams.
• Carefully examine the email address and URL. Slight variations in the email address or URL could be a sign of a scam.
• Look for grammatical errors or odd phrases.
• Verify payment and purchase requests in person or by calling the person via previously held contact information to ensure their legitimacy.
• Don’t click on links in unsolicited emails or text messages.
• Don’t download email attachments from people you don’t know or forwarded emails.

(Radio Iowa) – For the first time in 44 years, lawmakers have voted to make changes in Iowa’s popular “Bottle Bill.”  “I’m glad this is happening. It’s time.” That’s Senator Jason Schultz of Schleswig, one of 30 Republicans who voted to accept House adjustments and send the bill to the governor. The legislation would let grocery stores stop accepting empty bottles and cans and paying deposits. Redemption centers would see their per container handling fee increased to three cents. Wholesale distributors of beer and pop would be able to keep the money from un-redeemed containers.

“We’ve been working on this thing for years and this year we started with recognizing what the people of Iowa want,” Schultz says. “…They don’t want the deposit increased. They don’t want that tax on the can to go from a nickel to a dime. They want that left alone. This does that. They want more locations to redeem.” Schultz says more redemption centers will open once the per container handling fee is being tripled. There are only five dozen redemption centers in Iowa today. Senator Claire Celsi, a Democrat from Des Moines, says letting grocery stores and other retailers opt out of accepting empties means many Iowans will have nowhere to get their deposits back.

“It’s less convenient for consumers,” Celsi says. Senator Joe Bolkcom, a Democrat from Iowa City, says the bill will be a massive windfall to wholesalers who’ll continue to keep those un-redeemed deposits. “Iowa consumers will pay for these cans and bottles and they’ll never see the money again,” Bolkcom said. “What a sweet deal to our beverage distributors and there’s no accounting for it here.” And Bolkcom objects to the tax credit for beer distributors that’s included in the bill. The 15 “no” votes in the Senate came from Democrats.

The plan got bipartisan support in the Iowa House last month and now goes to the governor. Last month Governor Reynolds told reporters she was solely focused on rounding up votes for her private school scholarships and had not been negotiating with legislators on Bottle Bill changes.

(Radio Iowa) – The Grundy Center man found guilty of shooting and killing an Iowa State Patrol Trooper will be sentenced in June. A Jury took around two-and-half hours of deliberation earlier this month before finding 42-year-old Michael Lang guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Patrol Sergeant Jim Smith last April in Grundy Center.

Lang was also found guilty of attempted murder, and assault on a peace officer in connection with the standoff. He will be sentenced to life in prison on June 27th.

(Radio Iowa) – Without debate, the Iowa Senate has voted to block development of new casinos. This is how Senator Roby Smith of Davenport explained the plan. “It caps the number of licenses at the current amount of 19, which is in effect for the next two years,” Smith says.

The moratorium was attached to a bill that must be reviewed by the House. If the governor approves, Linn County’s application for a casino license would be blocked. State gambling regulators began developing a timeline for reviewing new casino applications after Linn County voters approved a gambling referendum last November. The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission has rejected two previous applications for state licensed casino in Cedar Rapids.

In March, Cedar Rapids Mayor Tiffany O’Donnell and developers said they had come up with a plan that’s bigger and more spectacular than Linn County’s previous applications. Iowa gambling regulators cited concerns that a Cedar Rapids casino would lure customers away from nearby casinos in Waterloo and Riverside in denying previous plans in 2014 and 2017.

(Radio Iowa) – Three men have pleaded guilty in an internet car selling scheme. The three admitted to replacing the odometers in cars so they showed lower mileage and the cars sold for more money. Fifty-year-old Jerret Schreiber of Parkersburg pleaded guilty to wire fraud and was sentenced to six months in prison and six months home confinement –and ordered to repay nearly 91-thousand dollars in restitution.

Thirty-three-year-old David Stangeland of Cedar Falls was sentenced to one-month in prison fore pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit odometer fraud. He was ordered to pay 85-thousand dollars in restitution. Thirty-six-year-old Dustin Arends of New Hartford received three years’ probation after pleading guilty to odometer tampering. He was ordered to repay 23-thousand-200 dollars in restitution.