An old scam is making the rounds again and the County Sheriff is none too pleased about it.
According to a news release, “We’ve been informed that several people in the last few days reported they had been contacted by someone claiming to be from the Sheriff’s Office,” Sheriff’s spokesman Tony Cipolla said. “The scammers used technology that made it appear the call was coming from the Sheriff’s Office on caller ID.
“Residents were warned there was a warrant out for their arrest because they failed to appear for jury duty. The scammer has even used the names of actual judges to make the call appear to be legitimate.”
These scammers tell the targets they can clear the warrant by making arrangements to give them information from a green dot card/prepaid debit card, Cipolla said. Though it sounds rather lame, sometimes it works.
“In one of those cases,” Cipolla said, “a county resident fell victim to this scam with a reported loss of $5,000. We want to warn residents these calls have no connection to the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office or Superior Court.”
Neither the Sheriff’s Department nor the Courts will contact you by phone if you skip or miss jury duty. Anyone who receives a call like this should report it to their local law enforcement agency.
Cipolla asked that everyone “inform your family and friends about this scam, so they can be prepared in the event they receive a call like this.”
