Sheriff’s Office Call Scam: How It Works
(with video below) We all want to be good citizens and sometimes just want to contribute to the well-being of our neighborhood. However, beware of local calls claiming to be from your county’s office, in an attempt to bilk you out of your hard-earned money. How does the scam work?
Watch the video below to see the Call From Sheriff’s Office scam exposed:
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There are a couple of variations for the Call From Sheriff’s Office scam:
Variation 1. Callers claim they are members of the law enforcement authority, but require the victims to pay money they apparently owe to the Sheriff’s Office, for certain services.
In a further attempt at legitimacy, the caller gives the victim a telephone number to call to verify that the caller is indeed a member of the law enforcement community. Of course, the number given just calls the scammers back, rendering the “verification” pointless.
Variation 2. Crooks call victims portraying themselves as the local law enforcement agency and urge them to support the County Sheriff’s office with the investigation of well-known local criminals. The victim is then asked to donate money by sending via wire transfer.
Sheriff’s Office Call Scam: How To Avoid
There is never a time when a law enforcement agency will contact someone asking for money to release money owed. This just does not occur. If you do receive a call such as this, when given a telephone number to verify identity just ignore it. Find the real number of the Office online or in the phone book.
Never take the caller’s word for it; being proactive is the key to avoiding this scam. Also, if you find yourself on the receiving end of a call like this, contact your actual local law enforcement agency and report the call.
According to law enforcement agencies, while they sometimes solicit funds from the public for their fraternal organizations they would never request donations from citizens to fund investigations.
Ask the caller for their name, badge number and the phone number of the agency for which they are working. Then hang up the phone, look up the actual number of the agency and call to report the solicitation.
Law enforcement officials urge people to never wire money to anyone they do not know. Also be aware that some scammers claim to be family members, so while on the call never reference a relative’s name.
Sheriff’s Office Call Scam: How To Report
Make your family and friends aware of this scam by sharing it on social media using the buttons provided. You can also officially report the scammers’ phone number to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) using the link below:
How to protect yourself more:
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352-623-2468 calls relative of a registered sex offender and identifies themselves as a deputy with X sheriff’s office trying to get a hold of sex offender that has a warrant for not complying with new law (this case was a new DNA sample) and they can use electronic payment of $250 to pay bail ahead of arrest to avoid jail.
Scare tactic because RSO are already on edge. And with COVID no one wants to deal in cash. It was very convincing. Give away was a phone call 30 minutes later to relative saying they need to pay $1200 to avoid going to jail for not appearing for jury duty.
Called from 407-665-6654 claiming to be with the Santa Rosa Sheriff’s office and there has been a claim made against me and want to know when I would like to meet to be given the paperwork. Same exact wording as the IRS scam. looked up the phone number and it belongs to the fax machine in the legal department of the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office. The two offices are over 6 hours away from each other and they would have to have almost literally driven by my house to get there.
Called and said there was a civil suit against me. He even had the last four of my social, which I told him were wrong. He claimed he was from a lawyers office, and could not believe that I have not received any paperwork about a civil suit against me. He had a foreign accent and called from 407-665-6654, it came up as Sanford, FL. I hung up and blocked his calls.
Call from supposed Federal Law Enforcement Agency threat to send police to my home.Number he called from was 1-646-506-4933 and he gave his name as Ishan Woods.I have committed no crimes.