(WFRV) – In the midst of the investigation into 20-year-old Johanna Schultz’s death, someone created a fake website pretending to collect money on behalf of her family.

The Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office got wind of the website because it was claiming Schultz died in a car accident, but in reality, her boyfriend Joseph Olvera is charged with her murder.

Lieutenant Mike Sewall says it is difficult to get sites like this taken down.

“Unfortunately, when it comes to websites like that, we have very little control when it comes to that free speech aspect of things. There’s very little we can do to go and get that site shut down. Our biggest thing is just to make people aware of the information that we have in a timely manner,” Sewall says.

Scams continue to prove a major issue for law enforcement, and Winnebago County is not the only local agency dealing with an influx of scam calls.

Commander Kevin Warych with the Green Bay Police Department says they get calls about scams on almost a daily basis, but he gave some tips to avoid being a victim of fraud.

Warych explains, “Pay attention to the detail of what is presented to you, whether that’s through an email, a phone call, pay attention to really what they are asking for. Also, it’s important to verify the source. Verify where the information is going and where it is coming from.”

Lieutenant Sewall also shares his advice.

“Make sure you lock down your social media profiles. If you don’t give those scammers any information about yourself that’s open to the public, they can’t use that as leverage against you,” Sewall says.

Officials also say the website claiming to be supporting the Schultz family is now offline.

While Schultz’s family says they were not aware of the website, they are expressing their gratitude to the people supporting them during this difficult time. Their legitimate Gofundme has raised almost $36,000.