(Cleveland)- The White County Sheriff’s office has issued a telephone scam warning after several residents received calls from people posing as court or law enforcement officials telling the people they missed jury duty and there’s a warrant going to be issued for their arrest.
Captain Scotty Scarbrough, with the White County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigation Division said, The scammers tell residents they can pay money and avoid being arrested. The have to buy a prepaid card and give them the numbers from that card.
Scarbrough said the callers have done their homework and even use local officials names, such as White County Sheriff Neal Walden, when they call.
Captain Scarbrough admits, the victim in most cases are caught off guard with the phone calls and are understandably upset at the prospects of a warrant being issued for them. He also said in some cases they even threaten to come to their house.
This is a scam, said Scarbrough, and if you should get a call like this you should just hang up on the person calling. This is not the way the sheriff’s office or the court system operates and everyone should be on guard. The scam many times is targeted at those 65 or older, so if you have a family member, friend or neighbor that you might feel could fall victim to this please alert them.
Scarbrough reminds everyone NEVER give personal information to anyone who calls your home, especially social security numbers and other private information. If you should received one of these calls after you hang up on them call the White County Sheriff’s Office and advise them about what happened.
