VA: State Police warn of phone scams targeting registered sex offenders
State Police have recently been alerted of an increase in phone scams targeting sex offenders.
Officials say the consistent theme among these scams has been phone fraudsters threatening people into paying large amounts of money in the form of gift cards.
Police say the phone scammers are calling offenders claiming to be a “Lieutenant Johnson” from the Suffolk Sheriff’s Office. The scammers claim that there is a warrant for their arrest for failure to provide a DNA sample, or the warrant can be removed for a fee.
The scammers then provide instructions on how the payment should be submitted. Police say it is usually in the form of a gift card from a local business.
According to police, the scammers will often manipulate caller ID, to make the number appear to come from a nearby police office or local sheriff’s office.
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Jacob
A few years ago I got a flyer/letter in the mail from FAC and threw it in the trash. I was so paranoid of scams I wrote it off as another way to get my information. Not a month later I saw some presentation online or on tv (Can’t remember which) featuring FAC and their cause.
I was like “Well Damn, maybe they are legit afterall”. That is when I did some digging and called around and verified they were legit. I have been coming on looking for new posts ever since.
As a side note, I use to get those letters from “Clearmycase” all the time. I did not even research them. Having a law background myself, I knew there was no way throwing money at some random legal group in another state was a good idea. I feel so bad for those who fell for it. The old saying “If it seems too good to be true, it is a scam”.
Ironically, Clear My Case sued us for calling them out… and lost!
FAC
Yes I remember that. Didn’t they also finally get shut down?
Problem with a-holes like him is, after they get shut down, they open up somewhere else under a different business name. Also I heard alot of those Arrest records sites are owned by just a hand full of the same people.
They did and he opened some other scam company.
KLM
You are right on.
Talking to them, they know too much about police operations to not be either cops or ex-cops. That being so they can easily get all kinds of information about you that the public doesn’t have access to.
It is QUITE SIMPLE…DO NOT ANSWER THE PHONE AND IMMEDIATELY BLOCK THE NUMBER…EVERY SMARTPHONE HAS A BLOCKING FEATURE!
IF YOU DO NOT RECOGNIZE THE NUMBER, DO NOT TAKE THE CALL!
IF LAW ENFORCEMENT REALLY WANTS TO TALK TO YOU, THEY WILL FIND YOU!
Truth
I have a smartphone and does not have a block feature. Verizon told me I have the Ghetto plan for poor folk and the block feature is through them, not my phone and is extra. If you think you can find it on my phone, do tell. I have a ZTE blade Z839
Update:
I looked in my book again and found the blocking feature. I called Verizon to ask why they told me I do not have this feature. She said it was because they provide my service and I do not pay for that feature, blocking is blocked LOL
I am going to try it anyway just to see.
Check out the Google Play store. There are tons of free apps that can do it.
Derek:
“there aren’t enough folks fighting” is 100% correct. The number one problem that registrants have is apathy.
Only 1% of registrants, their family and friends are doing 100% of the work.
I’ve gotten a few and reported them. Not surprisingly, nothing ever came of it. Pretty sure they got my number from either the probation office or the registry office at the SO (it’s prepaid and unlisted – my name isn’t on it).
I haven’t gotten one in about a year. Back then, I antagonized the hell out of the clown on the other end. I think what set him off was when he said I violated a court order to provide a DNA sample, I told him to mail me another one and I’d wipe my ass with it and mail it back to them – they could get their DNA sample from that.
If there’s a warrant out for one’s arrest LEOs are just gonna come, not call you up. Besides the attempted scammer, I called my sheriff’s office to confirm a scam and file a report. Someone in my area did get scammed.
I partially agree with the “police don’t care about us” thing but think that going after scammers is hard enough for the feds, let alone smaller state entities.