Scammers are calling Montgomery County residents and threatening immediate arrest, unless the call-taker forks over some cash.
Montgomery County Sheriff Darren Popkin on Wednesday said somebody is calling county residents and claiming to work as a deputy in his office.
The scammer is claiming that a warrant has been issued for the call-taker’s arrest and the only way to prevent the warrant from being served is to pay up immediately.
“Montgomery County Deputy Sheriffs will never call and threaten to arrest you unless you immediately send an electronic payment,” Popkin said in a press release. “Deputies will never ask you to place funds for payment on a pre-paid credit card to cancel an arrest warrant.”
The scammer is apparently getting specific by mentioning the call-taker’s name and citing a made-up official rank. In some cases, the caller has asked for personal information to “clear your name” and cancel the nonexistent arrest warrant.
The scammers are telling victims to load up a pre-paid credit card and then call up a number with the card information.
Popkin said he assigned a security deputy to investigate the phony calls after getting a number of concerned calls from the public.
Don’t give out personal information when getting an unsolicited phone call. Contact the Sheriff’s Office at 240-777-7000 if you’ve been contacted with this scam attempt. Popkin asked victims to record the date and time of the call, the purported name of the caller, the call back number and their phone number as displayed on caller ID.
