Sheriff warning of new scam targeting local citizens

LOGAN — A new scam is catching local citizens. The phone scheme is similar to others which have caused many people to become victims and lose money.

Cache County Sheriff Chad Jensen said the newest con is by phone calls. The caller allegedly claims they are trying to collect money for an alleged debt.

“Our citizens are taking calls from people who claim to be deputies with the sheriff’s office, stating that the individual has debt and they are working for a collection company, and asking for payment over the phone to resolve the debts,” explained Jensen.

This latest scam is one of many different types that local law enforcement receive complaints about on a daily basis. In many cases, the phone calls appear on caller id’s to be local numbers. The callers are also using the names of actual deputies that work for the sheriff’s office.

Jensen reminds citizens, no law enforcement agency will ever ask for personal details and especially financial information over the phone.

The sheriff’s office will never ever serve notice or take any type of credit card payment over the phone. This is one of many different types of scams that we get complaints about all the time.”

Some of the other scams circulating over the phone and internet include citizens being told that a family member is in jail and they need to pay money to post bail. Others have received calls stating a warrant has been issued for their arrest because they missed jury duty. Another one claims people have qualified for government grants or housing, if they will fill out an application and send a certain dollar amount in gift cards to the caller.

Jensen said several citizens recently have lost thousands of dollars to these scams, and deputies are often unable to track it because they originate overseas.

“People just need to be cautious. If something sounds too good to be true, 99 percent of the time it is. If anybody calls and asks for payment, and rather than a credit card they ask for gift cards as payment, its 100 percent never legitimate.”

Deputies recommend that when citizens receive scams of this nature, don’t give any information, hang up and report it so investigators can have record of it.


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1 Comment

  • Tina April 23, 2019 at 1:34 am Reply

    I had one call me and say they were a sargent and that i owed the irs an outstanding balance of back taxes and if i didnt pay a 1000$ that day i was going to jail he new my address and everything

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