JEFFERSON COUNTY, Mo. — The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office wants you to watch out for scam callers impersonating deputies and demanding money.
The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said the most important thing to remember is, a law enforcement agency is not going to call you and demand money for any reason.
Grant Bissell with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said for the second time in the last three months phone scammers have impersonated sheriff’s deputies.
“In October, we had somebody posing as Deputy Tyler Norrick who is actually one of our deputies but was not making phone calls to people in regards to this. Then just this past week, we had somebody calling around, posing as Sergeant Dan Harris from our civil process division. We don't have a Sergeant Dan Harris anywhere in this department at all,” Bissell said.
Bissell said the scammers use a phone number with a 636-area code and try and get people to turn over personal information or give them money in the form of Venmo or gift cards.
“They call saying that you missed a court date and then they might go so far as to say, now there's a warrant out for your arrest or you need to pay a fine or you're going to be arrested, something like that,” Bissell said.
5 On Your Side’s Laura Barczewski asked him, “What should you do if this call does come into your phone and maybe this kind of thing happens to you?”
“Be suspicious. First and foremost, be suspicious. Know that a police department don't call you to let you know that you have an outstanding warrant, or you have fines or things like that. If for some reason you're still thinking it might be legit, go ahead and call directly to that agency. Hang up the phone with the person that called you," Bissell said.
But he said unfortunately, it's tough to hold people accountable for doing this.
“Even if you do figure out where it's coming from, if it's outside of our jurisdiction or our local area with friendly police departments that we work with all the time, if it's outside of the state, if it's outside of the country, it gets to a point where your local law enforcement really can't do much,” Bissell said.
The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said this has been happening in other counties in our area.
If you receive one of these calls, it’s best to call your local law enforcement’s non-emergency line and make an informational report so they can warn others.
To watch 5 On Your Side broadcasts or reports 24/7, 5 On Your Side is always streaming on 5+. Download for free on Roku or Amazon Fire TV.