The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department is warning the public of a scam involving phone calls from suspects falsely claiming to be members of the department, asking for money.
The SDSO said scammers have recently been targeting residents of Poway and surrounding communities.
Here’s how the scam plays out: an unknown person will call a potential victim, claiming the person they have called has a warrant for their arrest and owes money to the SDSO.
The impersonators try to cover their bases to look legitimate, sometimes giving the victim a real phone number belonging to the SDSO. At times, they have also used names of real employees that work for the department.
The SDSO said the scammers sometimes even try to arrange a meeting in the parking lot of a government building of sheriff’s station to add to the ruse.
The department said Friday that these calls are never the real deal. The SDSO, the County of San Diego, or any of its employees will never contact the public via telephone to solicit money in the manner.
“Nor would any employees ever try to arrange a meeting to allow the ‘payment’ to be made,” the SDSO said.
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The scam calls are under investigation. Anyone who gets a phone call like this should immediately hang up and report the incident to the Federal Trade Commission by clicking here.
The SDSO said victims who suffer a financial loss due to one of these scam calls can call the Sheriff’s Communication Center at (858) 565-5200 or the law enforcement agency that oversees their community.
