Comments on: A reminder of the scammers out there

By: Travis Casteel

Travis Casteel — Fri, 09 Jun 2023 18:23:04 +0000

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.

By: LPH

LPH — Tue, 23 Nov 2021 18:21:10 +0000

In reply to Alan. Agreed.

By: Ts

Ts — Tue, 23 Nov 2021 14:34:07 +0000

In reply to William B. 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.

By: Tim

Tim — Tue, 23 Nov 2021 12:36:33 +0000

In reply to mbgodofwar. 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.

By: Jacob

Jacob — Tue, 23 Nov 2021 11:52:36 +0000

In reply to Posted This Before. 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.

By: mbgodofwar

mbgodofwar — Tue, 23 Nov 2021 03:08:48 +0000

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.

By: Posted This Before

Posted This Before — Mon, 22 Nov 2021 23:36:28 +0000

In reply to Disgusted in Michigan.

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.

By: Disgusted in Michigan

Disgusted in Michigan — Mon, 22 Nov 2021 17:52:20 +0000

In reply to 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.

By: Tim

Tim — Mon, 22 Nov 2021 17:16:47 +0000

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 .

By: Disgusted in Michigan

Disgusted in Michigan — Mon, 22 Nov 2021 16:21:40 +0000

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.