Sheriff’s Office warning residents of local phone scam

FILE PHOTO

LOGAN — The Cache County Sheriff’s Office is warning of another phone scam that has targeted several residents during the past week.

Sheriff’s Lt. Mike Peterson said several senior citizens in the county have received a phone call where the caller identifies himself using the name of an employee of the Sheriff’s Office.

“This individual is calling and saying that his name is Lt. Mike Peterson from the Cache County Sheriff’s Office and they need to return a phone call to him as soon as he can,” said Peterson. “He is leaving a phone number with the prefix 202, which doesn’t match any of our office lines or phone numbers.”

The caller is reportedly telling the person that they have a warrant for their arrest, but the caller is willing to take an on-line payment in lieu of being jailed.

Peterson said the caller is requesting several hundred dollars. All of the calls investigated so far have turned out to be fraudulent in nature.

“Just hang up on the individual. Don’t give them any information, certainly don’t give them any bank account numbers, Social Security Numbers or any personal information in that regard. Then call your local police agency and at least make a record of it. At least we would know that it is continuing to happen, getting worse or getting better. Certainly I hope people would figure that it is a scam type phone call and not to give any personal information over the phone.”

Most of the calls have come from pre-paid phone cards or spoofed phone numbers. Both are very difficult to track.

Peterson said it’s important to know that if someone has a warrant for their arrest, they will receive correspondence from the court, where the warrant originated from.

“From the law enforcement end, if we are seeking people that have a warrant, it is more than likely going to be a personal visit. It’s going to be something where the individual comes to a home, make contact on a traffic stop or during a police type incident. Phone calls from our end are very rare and that is just not the way we do business.”

During the last six months, Logan City Police officers have also investigated similar scams where local residents and businesses were receiving calls, stating that their utility bill were overdue or that they owed money on a debt.

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