A reporter nearly fell for a fake sheriff's sergeant. One wrong word, "Department" instead of "Office," gave the scam away, and it shows what to listen for.
A former crime reporter got a call from a man who said he was a sheriff's sergeant. He gave a name and badge number and said there was a "legal matter." It was a scam, and the giveaway was a single word. He said "Sheriff's Department." The agency is called the Sheriff's Office.
The call came from an unknown number, and the phone showed it as a sergeant from a local law enforcement agency. The caller said he was with the Adams County Sheriff's Department and knew the reporter's name. The reporter spent five years covering cops and courts near Denver and still felt thrown for a moment.
A quick web search found no sergeant by that name. The reporter hung up, then looked up the sheriff's office independently and called its main line. Staff said no one there had called, and that the scam had been going around. A second call came later, but no message was left.
The agency later posted a warning about a fake "Sgt. Don Davis" who told people they had missed a federal jury summons. The office said it has no sergeant by that name and would not handle a jury summons that way. It also warned that callers may know personal details, send texts citing federal laws, and use voicemail boxes made to sound real.
The Federal Trade Commission says a name, a real officer's name, a real number on caller ID or details like your address do not prove the caller is an officer. Fear and speed are the tools. The caller wants you to pay before you stop to check.
Anyone with a phone. The stories vary. The FTC lists missed jury duty, a suspicious package in your name, or an arrest unless you pay a fine. A Colorado woman was told that a Zelle or PayPal payment would "unfreeze a citation." She called her local sheriff's office and learned it was a common scam.
Anyone who never got such a call has nothing to fix. The material does not say how many people have been targeted, and the reporter hung up before learning what this caller wanted.
The goal is usually money, and the payment methods are chosen because they are hard to trace and hard to recover. The FTC names several.
The reporter also suspects old public records or another database supplied the phone number and name, even though they no longer live in the county. Knowing your details is not a sign of a real call.
The alert box above lists the steps. The key habit is to end the call and check with the agency using a number you found yourself, not one the caller gave you.
A real officer's name, badge number or caller ID proves nothing, so hang up and call the agency's main number yourself before you pay anyone.
Scammers are emailing Humboldt County well permit applicants and demanding $5,960 before a permit is issued. The county says the fee is fake.
Read more: Fake County Emails Demand $5,960 Fee for Well PermitsCallers posing as the Sheriff's Office told a Sarasota County woman she missed jury duty. She lost over $40,000, and the same scam is hitting others.
Read more: Fake jury duty calls cost one Florida woman over $40,000Europol warns that scam callers can fake the number on your screen, so the safest move is to hang up and call back using a number you found yourself.
Read more: Got a suspicious call? Hang up and look up the number yourself
