JANESVILLE, Wis. -- Officials are warning Rock County residents about scams involving the emerald ash borer.

The insect remains a concern in Wisconsin, but it's not just trees at risk. At this point, the emerald ash borer, or "EAB," has not been found in Rock County.

Even so, horticulture experts at Rotary Gardens in Janesville have received calls from people who have been told the insect is present on their property by others attempting to sell treatment for EAB.

Currently, the state has set 7,000 EAB traps to look for the insect. None of those traps in Rock County turned up a positive identification of the small beetle.

Officials are warning residents of anyone trying to sell treatment for a problem that, so far, does not exist.

"There are professionals, Ph.D.s in entomology, who have difficulty doing this, so having somebody coming by in a truck and walking up on your property for the first time and pointing to your tree, saying you have EAB, that's very probable that they're somebody who doesn't know what they're doing," said Mike Maddox, with the UW Extension Rock County and Rotary Botanical Gardens.

In the latest possible scam, an area resident was told there were EAB on an ash tree on the property.

It was actually Japanese beetles on a birch tree. No ash trees existed on the property, WISC-TV reported.

In April, the emerald ash borer was found in Vernon County in western Wisconsin.

It was also found along the Washington and Ozaukee county line last year.

So far, it has not been discovered in central Wisconsin.

The state is providing information on EAB at www.emeraldashborer.wi.gov.

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