IA: Scammers are nationwide
We like to post these every so often to remind everyone on the registry and their families that there are individuals out there that use the public registry to commit scams against persons required to register and their families.
It has been VERY prevalent in Florida and although the FDLE has done nothing to warn those on the registry about it, we’ve done our best to keep it prevalent in our updates, but no region of the United States is immune.
Police in Story County Iowa issued the following warning:
The Story County Sheriff’s office is cautioning residents that a man has been making scam phone calls, posing as a law enforcement official and demanding money. The caller identifies himself as Detective Aiden with the Story County Sheriff’s Office.“The scammer will advise the individual of a warrant out for their arrest due to non-compliance with sex offender registry laws,” according to a news release. “The scammer instructs the individual to go to purchase a specific money card from Walgreens to enable payment over the phone. This scam call typically comes from a 515 area code.” Capt. Nicholas Lennie of the Story County Sheriff’s office said it’s not uncommon for scammers to use the actual names of personnel from the sheriff’s office.“We’ve received a number of calls in our dispatch office advising about this,” Lennie said. “Scammers tend to prey on people who are more vulnerable and may fall to those types of calls.
Interesting that they acknowledge people on the registry as “vulnerable”.
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Florida does nothing to warn people about these scams but look what Pennsylvania does:
https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2021/08/27/pennsylvania-registered-sex-offender-scam/
https://www.readingeagle.com/2021/08/27/state-police-phone-scam-registered-sex-offenders/
http://levittownnow.com/2021/08/27/troopers-warn-of-scam-targeting-sex-offenders/
I get about a dozen scam calls everyday. When I have time I like to play games with them. I have fun seeing how long it takes me to get them to hang up on me. They have now come up with a system to make their calls look like a local calls. I will sometimes start off by asking them how the weather is in Bangladesh? That closes them down pretty fast. I also like the calls to lower my interest rate on a credit card I have never had. I tell them my current rate is zero and I would like to get it down to negative five percent. That brings the call to a pretty swift end. I also tell the Social Security officer to go get a real job.
Currently going through a second scammer scenario as I’m writing this.
Second time in about two months,I get a call from a person claiming to be a detective, telling me a father made a complaint about me and his so called underage daughter, says I can clear it up with the father and his lawyer, long story short, there just looking to extort money for keeping there silence.
In both cases I called the actual sheriff’s dept to check on the so called detective.
One was from ashville North Carolina and the current one is claiming the ocala florida police dept.
There trying to extort offenders for thousands of dollars on scare tactics. In both cases I just told them,you want to arrest me then do it. I’ll fight it in court,plain and simple.
These people look to fear of the law to accomplish there goal.
Like was previously said, if it was a real leo, I wouldn’t get a call,been told they would get a warrent, I would just be picked up and charged with no warning.
I’ve had 3 of these scam calls so far. I’ve reported all 3 of them to Clay County Sheriff’s Office which didn’t care. They wouldn’t even take a report and weren’t interested in (valid) return phone number or any details. I’d think they’d at least like to go after them for impersonating a police officer.
You can INSIST on filing a police report.
and they say that the registry is not punishment!! Yeah Right!!
To Jerry, this is stretching the topic, but I read this in a Document which seems to not apply to registrants; it is called The Bill Of Rights. It contains these words……life, LIBERTY, and the pursuit of happiness (emphasis mine). Liberty is defined as “The state of being free from control and restriction”. I’ve done my time, paid the price for my despicable transgressions. But unlike other felons who have completed the terms of their sentence, I am still being CONTROLLED AND RESTRICTED. I wonder if that has been challenged in the courts. I am not “free”. I am being told where I can and cannot live, have to notify the authorities any time I travel, under the constant threat of the registration laws. How is that free from control or restriction, or Liberty?
If anyone has information on this having been challenged, or the efficacy of challenging it, please reply to my post. I’ve been trying to find a precedent for this but haven’t found anything.
Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is actually a phrase written in the Declaration of Independence, not the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights are enumerated rights derived from the US Constitution.
Yes, you are technically correct, but I did not post the comment to be corrected in such an insignificant fashion. I made a correct statement about our rights as citizens, then asked a question regarding that right as applies to registered citizens. Thank you.