Yesterday we got 3 notifications that they were scam targets. One would think that with enough complaints the FDLE would take measures to track these scammers down, but apparently they don’t.
This was from a member:
I wanted to let you know about a scam that has been targeting registrants. Recently I got a call from someone pretending to be a deputy of the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s office. They claimed that I had not registered, even though I had, and there was a warrant out for my arrest. I could avoid this by staying on the phone with them and going to purchase $750 worth of Google Play Gift Cards and send them money via that way. I knew then that this was not a real deputy and just a scammer. This is not real in any way and is a scam targeting SO’s. I thought I should alert you all so you could potentially get the word out and protect others from getting scammed in such a way.
All the best!
The cops don’t care. I’ve contacted them a few times after I’ve gotten these calls demanding money. The Sheriffs just tell me that it’s a scam, don’t fall for it, hang up, there’s nothing they can do. Since they’re spoof numbers, there’s no way to track or trace them, according to Brevard County Sheriff’s Office.
Insist on filing a police report
Not only that, but I would contact them repeatedly, forever, and keep asking them how their investigations are going and how they are going to solve the problem. Same with the criminal legislators that created the Hit Lists. They created the problems, people need to be on them about fixing it. Do not let them decline to perform the most basic, easiest parts of their jobs.
This is the same as happened to me just before the Pandemic with caller saying he wasfrom the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office (previously reported here).
Every time I list something for sale on Craigslist, I get scammers wanting to “Send me a code”. The scam is, they say they want to verify you are not a scammer (They are the scammers). They want the code they send you to verify you are not a robot.
The thing is, once you send them the code, they enter that code into Google and retrieve all your info and take over your phone. What you have done is allowed them to recover your info and your phone is now locked out from you.
Everytime they ask me for those codes, I tell them to meet me in person in the parking lot of the local police station to complete the transaction. Most stop contacting me after that, some are persistant and demand to only meet me in person once code is sent so I don’t “Waste their time”.
For every thing that exists in life, there seems to be someone out there finding a way to scam the sheep. And before anyone judges, I saw a story last year of a retired police detective who got scammed. He was so embarresed but shared his story saying that is just how sophisticated some of these scams are.
BREAKING: Lemonade PurcHased by Registered Sex Offender
https://www.google.com/amp/s/fox2now.com/news/girls-discover-loyal-shrewsbury-lemonade-stand-customer-is-a-sex-offender/amp/
Jacob
Everyone is going to jump on me for this, but, it does sound to me like if he should have damn well of known better to avoid putting yourself in situations like this. And to keep going back time and again? Sometimes we ask for our own troubles, I know from experience.
What crime did he commit?
No one said he committed a crime in this instance. But because of his not using common sense, he is the talk of the town. Myself and many others try and be low key and stay off the radar so we do NOT get put on the evening news. Embarrasing enough being on the registry without bringing more attention to yourself.
If you think it was a good idea for him to continue visiting a lemonade stand run by kids, while being on the registry, I just don’t know what to say.
I can’t help but wonder if the girls had a business license to operate a lemonade stand. Nowadays nothing is too ridiculous to be questioned.
Pfft @ Fox “news”
I got a call.it was in a robotic voice saying they were from law enforcement. That’s as far as I got I said f you and hung up. Was from an 813 area code which I’m in but had registered in May in person.
Please post the phone number of the person who called you, posing as a cop…
Thanks
The problem is that these scammers use the same trick as other scammers: posing as someone or something in the intended-victim’s area. If they pose as a legitimate company or pretend to be in your town, it’s not too hard for them to spoof the sheriff’s office, police department, etc. Either way, it’s illegal, but if they’re out to take your money through deceit, then pretending to be one’s credit card company vs one’s sheriff’s office makes no difference.
I usually ask the spammer how the weather is in Bangladesh?
I’ve gotten scam calls (not this one) from A-hole spoofing legit numbers like law enforcement agencies. Most scams are also utilizing the Google Voice throwaway numbers.
Derek
Most of the time if you say “Let me call the Sheriff’s office, Police department, State police (Where ever they state they work) Number and ask for you, they will agree. If they threaten you when you state that, they are full of brown stuff that comes out of your butt.
I do not judge anyone who gets scammed or almost gets scammed. I always pride myself with being smarter than the scammers. Having said that, I once came within seconds of losing my computer. I was having issues and out of the blue HP calls me, knows my name and states my serial # of my registered computer.(Yes my computer is even on a registry lol)
Anyway, The guy (With Indian accent like all HP tech support do) tells me he noticed I was having computer issues and says he will help me. He was having me do all this stuff then said he needed access remotely to my computer. I was just seconds from allowing this when it popped into my head some thoughts.
First off, my computer had been out of warranty for over 5 years. Secondly, even when my computer WAS in warranty, they do not call you to offer to help. In fact even in warranty, you play hell and jump through hoops to get any help. When I told him I would call back into the HP # and ask for him, he started cussing saying he would ruin me. I finally hung up and took a deep breath.
Many of the numbers turn out to be spoof numbers. I use an app called Hiya that screens calls. When you look up the numbers online, there is no information for them or you get a lot of middle eastern or Russian groupings for the number. My guess is there must be a spoofing service out there.
Thanks, I noticed the other day when i was contacted by bill’s carpet service and when i picked up the phone, it was a lady selling auto warrantys…..
I reversed the number, it was bill’s carpet being spoofed …
👍
Rick
I keep getting those car warranty calls. Everytime I hit #2 to stop the calls (Per their instructions) it hangs up. The next day they just call with another phone #. My vehicle has been out of warranty since Abe Lincoln was in office LOL
LoL…..ours too…
I just block all the numbers I don’t recognize.
Having only a cell phone, I get 5 or 6 scam calls a day. I don’t answer any call from numbers not in my contact list. The “Do Not Call” list is a big fu¢king joke. Scammers and telemarketers ignore it. I have nearly 500 blocked numbers on my phone. I’ve had to block entire series’ of numbers, i.e. (904) 298-9*** because they are all auto-dialed robocalls.
Nobody in government or business cares enough to put a stop to it. As to how they are getting our numbers, any company you have ever given your phone number to either sells your information or it is hacked off their servers. My personal computers have never been hacked.
Stop answering your phones folks.
JZ I always answer. Many many times I have seen this message pop up “Incoming potential spam”. So I didn’t answer and then get a voice message from one of my doctors etc.
Even though listening to a voice message is a way to vett these, I have missed money making opportunities by not answering. One time I missed out on a $1500 study on health issues before I did not answer. I called them back and they had already filled up the openings by time I was able to reach them.
A good way though my parents do it, they let any unknown calls go to the answering machine (Yes some still have those) and if important they can pick up before they hang up.
Too bad there wasn’t a way to give them a card tied to an FBI trace or something.
I’ve gotten these calls beofre. I asked them to meet me at the sherrifs office so I could pay in cash. They never seem to wanna do that for some reason lol..
Who falls for this garbage anymore?.
At least 2-3 calls a week from people who fell for this and wished they had found our warning first.
If it wasn’t immensely profitable it would not be surviving for years.
Please please please
If you are on the registry, get an “UNPUBLISHED” phone #. I do not otherwise know how they are getting your phone #’s
Everyone on here I have asked who had one of those calls stated their phone # was listed in the directory. I only have a cell phone and it is not a published #. If I got one of those calls I would know who gave it out, Law enforcement. But that hasn’t happened.
If I am wrong about that, then there is something way more sinister going on then. But no worries, it is all ok because the courts say NONE of this is punishment so carry on as usual. Snacks are available in the lobby.
I think scammers also tie an address with a phone number, even if your official number isn’t listed. Some PFRs stay with relatives who may have THEIR numbers published.
They are probably cross referencing a pilfered list from a commercially hacked source to the public addresses on the registry, then calling the number associated with that person.
You are right – all of my cell phones are unlisted except with the sheriffs office. Hmmm?????? And yet they called mine, my mothers and my sisters all trying the same BS stuff. And when you complain they say they know about it but cant do anything about it. I mean maybe it’s not impersonating after all? Hmmm????
you know its a scam the moment they call you to say there is a warrant out for your arrest. If there was an arrest warrant, they wouldnt call you – they would just come over and arrest you. I don’t know whats worse, people doing that or the fact that people fall for it.
Kevin
I would not say never. When I first got arrested they got me. The second time I was not home but they kept calling me to meet with me. Of course you are right they did not say I had a warrant but that call stating I needed to meet with them triggered me calling my lawyer. He verified I had an active warrant (Prosecutor added more charges because I had bonded out, oldest trick in the book)
Anyway, my defense told me to get the money, pay the same bondsman and he would walk me through the process. After that my lawyer called the judge to force them to stop holding back charges like a 5 year old not getting her way.
So I did get the call they were looking for me, just had to be keen to why. Also it helped that they knew I was most likely not a flight risk.
Can’t be Ron Book. He’d ask for a whole lot more than $750. I wonder if Grady Judd is hurting for money.
Detroit
As much as we depise a lot of those people, even they would not put their careers and freedom on the line to scam offenders. They may enjoy making our lives misrable, but for the most part legally. Often they cross the line (As far as we are concerned) but I think it is professional scammers.
I still cannot believe that old people are still getting scammed with the old “Grandma this is your grandson, I need you to bail me out” routine. There was a lady on our news just a couple of months back that met the scammers in person twice. When she went to do it a third time, the UPS man (or some other delivery person) realized what was happening and called the police.
I had a call come in from an actual detective trying to verify my address and I couldn’t verify the number, so I ended up calling the sheriff’s office to verify. Of course I was concerned because the detective showed up at my house minutes after I hung up and didn’t seem to be wearing anything identifying himself as an officer. Once it was verified, I called him back and explained what had happened and why. I’m sure he’s still skeptical. There needs to be an easier way to verify when an officer is calling vs a scam. This is a scenario that could easily get someone killed, either by the scammer or by the officer.
SIMPLE ADVICE – No police officer of any kind will ever tell you in advance you have a warrant – period! If they state that have one it’s a SCAM!
Find some loud noise and blast their ears off! I keep a horn or cowbell by the phone just for that reason alone! It keeps them at bay! And FYI the police could care less someone is impersonating them as they are harassing us!
A proactive
I was talking to someone on the registry recently about this. He has a 5 year old grandson. The grandson just loves to talk to people on the phone and tell them all about their lives, their day and toys. The man got one of those calls and told the person to hang on. He put his grandson on the phone and told him to talk away.
He put it on speaker phone just in case things got vulgar or something from the other end. After much babbling from the kid, they hung up LOL
I wish they would call me. I’d lay some ‘navy’ on them…just like I do to the ‘beggars’ and ‘auto insurance’ callers that I get
Captain…as a Son of a Decorated Marine, I understand What You Would Tell These Knuckleheads……..
AWESOME!
Semper Fidelis!