WARNING: Scams targeting persons required to register.
We have been receiving several emails from people who were the victims (or attempted victims) of a scam that has been going around for a while. Registrants receive a phone call from a spoofed caller ID belonging to an actual sheriff’s office. The caller claims there is some issue with the person’s registration and a warrant has been issued. In order to clear the warrant and avoid them having to come out to arrest them (or turn themselves in), they could pay the fine via a stored value card they can buy at a convenience store.
Between the spoofed caller ID belonging to an actual police station, a domestic caller, and the fake detective knowing all kinds of personal information about the victim (which, naturally, can be obtained from the public registry) the calls sound convincing and many people are falling target to this scam.
Please be mindful of this scam!
We suggest keeping the actual telephone number for the FDLE or your County’s registration office handy. If you receive a call from someone claiming to be the police, politely tell them you are very willing to cooperate with their “investigation” but need to speak to your attorney first. You can then call the FDLE or actual police (or have someone call for you) and ask them to verify the information.
If you are an attempted victim, we also suggest filing an actual police report (if they refuse to do the paperwork unless you are actually taken for the money, insist on an incident report). If enough of these incidents are documented, perhaps the police will actually do something to try to stop them.
Below is a member submission from IL:
About 3 pm today I was shopping in a local Sam’s Club and received a phone call on my cell phone from an 847 number originating in Libertyville — 847-371-5202. A very authoritarian male voice said he was calling from the Lake County Sheriff’s office and asked to speak to my husband. I told him I was in a store on my cell phone and my husband was not with me. I asked what this call was about. He would not tell me. I gave him my husband’s cell number.
My husband received a call from that same number and, as is his practice, he did not recognize the number so he did not answer it. Normally, scam callers do not leave messages, but a message was left this time. It was very garbled (he suspects on purpose) and was from an officer or detective “Brown” stating there was a question about his registration status. He called the number back and was surprised to get a recording. He left a message that his call was garbled and left his name and phone number. About 5 minutes later “Brown” called him back and asked when his last registration was. My husband gave Brown that information. Brown said there were some missing documents. My husband asked what? Brown said there is no record of a blood test. My husband asked “what blood test”. Brown stated that there was a new law effective 7-1-18 requiring all registrants to provide a blood sample. My husband asked how he was supposed to know that. Brown stated a letter had been sent to his address. My husband said he never received any such letter. Brown then asked if our address was correct. My husband stated it was. Brown stated the letter was sent on some date my husband can’t recall. My husband again stated that he had never received such a letter. Then Brown stated my husband was in violation of SORNA requirements and that it was necessary for him to come to the Lake County Sheriff’s Dept immediately. My husband hung up and attempted to call me back and I did not answer. Brown then called back demanding to know why my husband hung up on him and stated he had to remain on the line with Brown and immediately come to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office. He agreed to do so and left the house in his car, telling Brown he was leaving. Brown demanded to know the odometer reading on the car so they could verify that my husband had come directly to the Sheriff Dept.
Brown then transferred my husband to someone else who identified himself as an officer and said that my husband had to remain on the line as there would be satellite tracking of him to prevent him from attempting to escape. This other person said he may be interrupted from time to time as he was at a 911 dispatch center and, in fact, there was dispatch noise traffic going on in the background so it sounded legitimate. This supposed policeman then explained to my husband that because he had not responded to the written request to come in for a blood test, that a warrant had been issued and he would need to post a bond. The supposed officer said the satellite tracking would allow my husband to stop at a bank and the bond would need to be a cash bond of $3,450.
This was starting to sound like a scam. So instead of driving either to a bank or the Lake County Sheriff’s Dept in Waukegon. Detective Paraison said no. My husband handed his cell phone to the detective and when the detective asked who was calling, the guy hung up. Detective Paraison confirmed this was a scam.
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You know, phone numbers aren’t available from the registry. Cell numbers aren’t listed in the phone book, even the online version. Betting many registrants use prepaid service (like myself), so their numbers won’t be listed anywhere.
What I’m getting at is that these scams probably involve parole/probation officers or someone in the SO tracking units. Are we really shocked?
hmmm..if these could be documented I wonder if it is not possible to file a lawsuit against the government as being complacent in the act of the crime, since it is the government that is starting the scenario for the crime..or at the very least use these actions as further evidence of the punitive and vigilante aspects of the registry, helping to cement it as not only punitive AND cruel and inhumane BUT also decidedly dangerous.The governments failed responsibility is to protect citizens not harm them. It can very simply be argued these crimes and attempts at crimes are directly related to the behavior of the government violating citizens rights to privacy and making this collected information available. I dont know.. just a thought..often when government can not be brought to justice by making them follow the law sometimes it is possible to do it by hitting the wallet?
When is the cops gonna do something about these scammers? My daughter made a 700 deposit for a house after going to look at it. Workers happened to be there and let her in. Seems to be a lot of victims out there. Police told my daughter “it’s too costly to fight the crime” and she’s out the money. Too busy tracking people harness SO than catching people that target the elderly and poor and too wimpy to clean up the growing gang population. SO violations is easy money.
Not sure about other counties, but when Pinellas SO calls you, the deputies use their work cell phone which has a blocked/unavailable caller ID. The way it comes up on AT-T is different than other blocked or unavailable numbers so I generally know who is calling. The scammer that called me showed a 727 area code, but he was still using the old Ulmerton Road SPOT address (one or two offices ago) and didn’t know how to pronounce Ulmerton.
I fell for this scam as well. $1800. I knew it was a scam but I could not overcome my fear that there was a mistake. Part of this was there had been a jurisdiction issue with the man in front of me the last time I registered. Let me put this in caps….WHEN THEY ASK FOR $, SIMPLY HANG UP. As for the police, they serve a purpose so report the incident but as I found out they are pretty much powerless. The scammers are a ghost.