Law enforcement authorities are alerting citizens about a new twist on an existing scam designed to steal your money.
An individual has been calling homes advising they are a member of the Sheriff’s Office in that particular county and they have a warrant for your arrest. They usually state the warrant is for failing to appear for federal jury duty. Because of the failure to appear warrant they claim there were 3 citations issued for your arrest: Avoidance of Civil Duty, Contempt of Court, and Failure to Appear.
The caller, who sounds authoritative and convincing, demands you go to the sheriff’s office or county courthouse to meet the deputy impersonator to pay the cash bond to avoid arrest.
When the caller agrees to pay and is on the way to the courthouse, the individual calls back and claims they have been dispatched to a call and will be out of the office. They then direct the victim to go to a local store and purchase gift cards or iTunes cards and provide the numbers to the cards as payment for the outstanding bonds.
Several of the calls have been made in Duplin County. In a press release, Sheriff Blake Wallace said, “Please know that this is a scam and that no one from the Duplin County Sheriff’s Office will call you by telephone regarding federal jury duty. (The) Duplin County Sheriff’s Office will not call you and request payment for a bond. If you receive a call and you are unsure if you are speaking to an actual deputy sheriff, please advise that caller that you are going to hang up and call the Sheriff’s Office to verify the caller’s identity. After normal business hours call 911 to verify the identity of your caller.”
