The Greenbrier County Sheriff’s Office issued a release earlier this week regarding several fraudulent schemes occurring in our area that have already victimized several people. The most prevalent one currently is a scheme that someone calls representing themselves as a law enforcement officer advising the victim that there is warrant for their arrest.
The perpetrator uses the name of an actual law enforcement officer stating that the victim has either missed jury duty or failed to show for court and a warrant has been issued. They then instruct the victim to withdrawal money and send it to them via bitcoin or gift card. The perpetrator uses threats, and coercion to scare and intimidate the victim into sending the money.
The recent victims have been instructed to take cash and purchase bitcoin through a kiosk to a certain account. Once this money is sent it is virtually impossible to recover. The perpetrators are highly skilled at doing these scams and will even send pictures of a warrant with the victim’s name on them.
These of course are fake. These are not the actual tactics of real law enforcement. Any bonds, bail, or fines are collected at an actual courthouse. If there is an actual warrant for a person’s arrest, then that person is arrested, processed, arraigned then bond is set and paid at the court. The other scams include a call that the IRS has a warrant for you for unpaid taxes, or your social security number was used fraudulently, all requiring you to send in money. Here are some tips if you find yourself receiving one of these calls.
- Do not give any personal information to the caller, for example your date of birth, social security number, banking information, credit card numbers or address.
- Hang up, and contact authorities through a phone number you know to be correct.
- Tell the caller that you will report to your local courthouse to take care of the issue, and hang up.
- Never send money through bitcoin, gift card, Western Union, money transfer, or mail cash. Legitimate law enforcement agencies do not collect money that way.
- Ask for a call back number, hang up, contact local law enforcement and see if this is a scam.
- Always contact local law enforcement before sending money.
- You can always contact local law enforcement, Magistrate, Circuit Court to confirm if you have missed court.
