The Spokane County Sheriff’s Office and Spokane Valley Police continue to ask for your help. We continue to receive reports of these scammers calling and sometimes victimizing our fellow citizens.
What can you do? Help us spread this information. Make sure your neighbors, churches, groups, vulnerable adults and especially, your family and friends know about these scams.
I know, I know, everyone is tired of hearing about these scams but that’s exactly what these criminal are hoping for.
Below are two new examples from last week and both were generated from the same phone number, (509)237-5229.
In both instances, the caller claimed to be an employee of the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office. The caller stated the victim had a warrant for their arrest for failing to appear for jury duty.
One of the potential victims began asking basic questions the caller could not or would not answer. After the call ended without the victim falling prey to the scam, the victim called the number back which went to voicemail with a message stating the victim had reached the Sheriff’s Office….
During the other incident, the victim unfortunately lost $450. The scammer originally told the victim she needed to meet with him and write a statement explaining why she did not appear for jury duty. The scammer also demanded the victim bring a green.moneypak (prepaid money card) card for $897.63 to pay the fine. The victim explained she didn’t have that much money so the predatory scammer told her to send him $450 instead.
The victim, not knowing this was a scam and being afraid she would be arrested, purchased a Green Dot prepaid card in the amount of $450. The criminal convinced the victim to give him the card numbers and information because he wanted to help her settle the warrant over the phone and save her a long drive to meet with him in person.
If you work in or are a manager of a store that sells prepaid cards, make sure your coworkers/employees know about these scams. Actively work to inform your customers and possibly identify potential victims who are purchasing these cards for large amounts of money before they are victimized.
Please help us get the information out about these scams. Tell everyone you know. Bring this up during church, meetings, group functions, your child’s sporting events, holiday gatherings and make sure the uninformed, the elderly and vulnerable adults know:
- Law enforcement, the courts, government agencies or reputable businesses will NEVER threaten arrest and demand payments or personal banking information over the phone.
- Resist the urge to act quickly. Verify the information by calling the “agency” at phone numbers YOU looked up, not ones provided by the scammers. In Spokane County, you can call Crime Check at 509-456-2233 (24 hours a day, 7 days a week) to report this activity before taking action.
- Contact family or friends. Tell them about the call; verify information before taking any action.
For more information and SCAM Alerts, please visit these websites:
Federal Trade Commission Scam Alerts: https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/scam-alerts
FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3): https://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx