Fortunately, the victim became suspicious, drove to the Sheriff’s Office, and asked to speak to the deputy in person. The scammer was able to “spoof” the victim’s caller ID and make the call appear to originate from our office.
Sheriff Dave Wedding stated, “Our office does not use the telephone in order to solicit the payment of fines, fees or judgments.” Sheriff Wedding added, “These scam artists rely on our trusted name to bolster the legitimacy of a request that under any other set of circumstances would seem outlandish.”
Area residents are advised to treat any unsolicited caller who requests payment, money card numbers or personally identifiable information with extreme skepticism, regardless of who the caller claims to represent. When in doubt get the caller’s name, hang up, and then call the business or government entity back at a phone number you know to be correct.
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