There have been many posts at our website about the scammers who are targeting registrants, but, unfortunately, people are still falling for them.
Many scammers demand gift cards, which sends up a warning flag. Apparently, some scammers in North Carolina realize that people are no longer falling for the gift card setup, so they are asking for cash.
As long as some registrants are getting caught up in these scams, we need to keep warning people about them as there are new people all the time coming to our site who are unaware of how these scammers operate.
Please comment on tactics used by scammers to educate unsuspecting registrants about what to avoid.
I want to put this out there. I live in Orlando, FL and I am on vacation for tge week of June 3rd – 10th in Sarasota, FL. After checking in the the county Monday like I am suppose to. Thursday morning I got a call from someone with the area code 941 which is Sarasota county. They left me a message telling me this was a sheriff. So I called them back to see what was the call for. They started talking to me saying I did not comply with the state rules and I didn’t do my figure printing like I was suppose to. The system was out when I was doing my check in here. They ended up doing my thumb print with black ink. He made it sound serious that I was in trouble. I almost fell for it. He said if I hang up the phone I would be arrested. Nothing was adding up after 10 minutes of talking. I kept saying to him I will go to county sheriff office and check with them. He said we don’t operate that wat sure. I hung up on him and called the number I had for the county sheriff office. I was told to go to website and look to see if there was a warrant out for me. I typed my name in and nothing came up. This was a scam.
I had one posing as a sergeant back in April. While he argued with my family members on a house phone, I called the sheriff’s department on my cell and verified it was a scam.
Related to scammers in general: I had one that congratulated me on paying my water and electric bill on time and to press 1 for a discount/rebate. I did for the hell of it, got a foreigner, then I immediately asked what company he represented. Vague terms like “your television service provider,” “your gas/electric/water company” are red flags.
Thats the way mine was to MB . no actual agency name just ” a federal agency “. And to press a number to be connected to the the calling party. After I hung up I called the number back it was an international number. I laughed since no US federal agency officer would be calling on an international number.
I’ve had 2 different ones one claimed they were calling about my car warranty ( my car is almost 20 yes old the warranty was up long ago but they wanted me to tell them my address and verify my car and that I was a registered Citizen. I’m sorry that’s something they wouldn’t know unless they looked me up. The second did leave a message it said they were from a federal agency ( they didn’t say which one or give any names ) but that I needed to call back and if I didn’t they would be persueing further leagle action . I called the sheriff a d was told no it was a scam .
The biggest red flag is the police will NEVER call you to say you have a warrant. They will just show up at your house or place of work and arrest you. They will NEVER demand money from you to pay a fine, post bail, etc.
Just hang up on these scammers. If you are unsure, hang up and call your local police station and explain what happened.
There is no legal obligation to answer a phone call unless it is a condition of your parole. If you don’t know who is calling, do not answer it. If it is important, let them leave a message and call back only people you know or numbers you recognize. The majority of scammers do NOT leave messages.
Agreed.
Hello everyone and Happy Holidays, yes please beware of them scammers, they tried me on September 25th and I almost took the bait but as I was following directions they would ask me not to hang up and to get in my vehicle with either one of them on the phone, so naturally I did and I got into a family members car with the “Detective” and started to proceed the county jail because apparently I didn’t respond to a certified letter and therefore there was a judge ordered warrant out for my arrest and he said that if I pay a sum of I want to say $2k or it may have been $1,500 I wouldn’t see the inside of a jail cell, so naturally I told him I didn’t have that kind of money because I’m disabled because of a spinal cord injury. He then asked me if I could borrow some money from either family or friends and I told no my family is on a fixed income and a family member is suffering from dementia. He asked if I could come up with half and again I said no. i then told him well if I have a warrant then I’m going to go to the bail bondsman right across the street and get everything processed, then he suggested gift card and that’s when the red flag hit me as I decided to turn into the Sheriffs office. I then suggested that he meet me outside so we could talk and next thing I know he hung up. I called the jail from the parking to verify if I had a warrant and even told the lady about the phone call and she took the time to look me up and there was nothing about a warrant or anything. I went inside the jail and spoke with her and her LT. and they talked to me about this and gave me some information about reporting a fraud claim, sadly I reported it and got a response back saying that if no money was lost then no crime was committed, I always thought that impersonating an officer was an illegal act. Sorry for the long page and also my rant/vent, so please don’t fall for that scam and try to get names especially. The one I spoke with was using a last name called “Detective Baker” but sadly I can’t think of the other persons name but do have it written down somewhere. Take care everyone and once again sorry for the long page…Happy Holidays Everyone take care…William B
Kind of funny how they said if no money was lost then no crime was committed. What about the term “attempted”? People are arrested all the time for attempting crimes. If someone walks into a liquor store, announces a robbery, but an off duty police officer happens to be there and apprehends the person before the clerk hands over any cash, the cop isn’t going to say, “oh well, no money was taken so no crime was committed.” Bull squat. The person is going to jail for attempted robbery.
It sounds to me that your local police station just didn’t want to be bothered by investigating the scammer.
The crime committed is falsely impersonating a law enforcement officer. That is a felony in Florida. So, report all these scammers to local LE for investigation. See http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0800-0899/0843/Sections/0843.08.html#:~:text=However%2C%20a%20person%20who%20falsely,775.082%2C%20s.
The link says it’s not impersonating an officer unless the individual “takes upon himself or herself to act” as an officer, not just claims to be one. This appears to be borne out by a simple google search (lawyers’ explanations, case law, etc.)
Since defrauding people may not fall under the category of “acting as an officer,” we may want to urge our elected representatives to update the linked statute to cover these scams.
I’m not sure of your states law but many states it is a crime to use the registry in any way like this. That alone should have qualified as a crime. Not that any law enforcement would bother to do anything about it.
My way of getting rid of those parasites is to ask them what the alleged charge is on the warrant. “What the h*** you mean you don’t have it in front of you!!?” Or, “How did you get my name, phone number and address if you don’t have the warrant with you?” “Exactly what is on the warrant, and what is the date of supposed offense? Who issued the warrant?” Don’t let them rattle you. If they are confronted with direct questions that require a specific answer, chances are that they will not try to scam you again. Unless more than one scammer is messing with you. I have received 3 calls before I tried this method. The 4th time I got in them rattled by asking those questions. No more calls in almost a year.