The Sheriff’s Office has issued a warning to residents about fraudulent phone calls being placed from what appears to be a Sheriff’s Office phone number.
In an emailed news release today, Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office (WCSO) warns of phone calls appearing to come from their main office number, 360-676-6650. Reports are the caller claims to be law enforcement, sometimes under the name Captain Abernathy, and tells the person being called there is a warrant out for their arrest because they failed to appear for jury duty.
The caller then says the warrant can be taken care by going to a local business (e.g. Walmart, Fred Meyer, Rite Aid) and purchasing approximately $3500 worth of Green Dot Money Pak cards. They are told to call the scammer back and give them the numbers off the back of the cards. The caller also tells the victim if they refuse to pay, a deputy or police officer will be dispatched to arrest them on the warrant immediately.
The scammer’s goal is to receive the numbers on the cards which gives them access to all the money on the cards.
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Click for more informationWCSO says warrants and court fines or payments are never handled this way. These calls are often impossible to trace and typically originate from foreign countries making prosecution impossible.
According to the WCSO, the best defense against these types of calls is to hang up and never provide personal identifying information to callers soliciting your information. Calls from official agencies can always be verified and persons can always call the agency to confirm a caller’s identity is legitimate.