04/18/2020
The gall some of these people have...smh
BEWARE - SCAMMERS PRETENDING TO BE FROM WCSO - AGAIN
This type of scam seems to happen every few months....and unfortunately, it is making the rounds again...with a little COVID twist.
We were notified by a local resident today that they almost fell victim to a scammer pretending to be “Officer Shepard” from the Washington County Sheriff’s Office. NOTE: We don’t have an Officer Shepard.
This is long, but we are sharing what was reported in hopes that it might prevent someone from falling victim to this scammer.
In this instance, it was reported the scammer called the potential victim and advised they had failed to respond to a letter that had been mailed on a specific date in January that ordered them to appear for federal jury selection. The scammer continued to explain that, due to their failure to appear, there were 2 citations against them - failure to appear and contempt of court. The scammer asked the potential victim to write down 2 citation numbers which he said they would need once they arrived at the Sheriff's Office. He said that “Judge Sizemore” was wanting such citations handled by phone, if possible, due to the current COVID-19 epidemic. He explained that the potential victim was not in trouble but they would need to come immediately to the Sheriff's Office to complete necessary paperwork and be given a new court date, which would occur in 7-10 days.
The scammer advised since court is closed at this time, they would be meeting with the "clerk of courts" to get paperwork showing the charges against the potential victim would be dismissed. He further explained that they would need to pay the surety bond on each charge, a total of $3000 ($1500 per charge). He said that this would be refunded once the potential victim appeared at the next court date. He also said that they could not disconnect the call, for doing so would be considered "failure to comply".
The scammer "officer" told the potential victim that they were to enter the administration department of the Sheriff's Office and utilize a kiosk. He said that they could talk to a receptionist and that the receptionist would provide the potential victim with a place to sit while they completed their paperwork, but the citation numbers he had previously given would be needed when they accessed the kiosk.
The potential victim found a way to place the scammer "officer" on mute and contacted their attorney, who asked them to merge the calls. The attorney asked the scammer "officer" to explain to him what was happening. The scammer told him what he was requiring of the potential victim and gave the attorney a federal case number when he asked for it, but would not email him copies of the citations. He told the attorney that the potential victim would be given all of that at the Sheriff's Office. The attorney wanted confirmation that the "officer" needed the potential victim to come to the Sheriff's Office today to be officially served and given a new court date. The scammer "officer" confirmed this was the case but mentioned nothing about the potential victim having to pay the surety bonds.
The attorney contacted the Sheriff’s Office and determined it was a scam.
The potential victim advised the scammer was well educated about criminal processes. He had no problem discussing this with their attorney and answered the attorney's questions with accurate responses, which led them to originally believe the charges against the potential victim were legitimate.
We don’t know what might have happened if the potential victim had made it all the way to the Sheriff’s Office, but we’re glad they didn’t!
Something similar actually happened a few years ago where the scammer pretended to be a detective with the Sheriff’s Office and asked them to come to the SO to pay for a charge against them, but once they got to the SO, the scammer talked them into giving their card number over the phone and advised they “would be right out”, or something similar. Obviously the scammer never showed up. These scammers can be very convincing...and they sometimes even “spoof” their phone number to make it appear the call is from the Sheriff’s Office on their caller ID.
So, we just want to take this opportunity to remind you that the Washington County Sheriff's Office will never solicit payment over the phone...we will never ask you to get a money card to clear up an outstanding warrant (or anything similar), and if you receive a call from someone purporting to be from the Washington County Sheriff's Office and they solicit money from you...for whatever reason....or if you're not sure of the legitimacy of the call, please take the time to give us a call to make sure it's actually us.... (it's always best to look the phone number up yourself to make sure you actually get the Sheriff's Office) or save this post and call us at (479) 444-5712.
