The scammer provides the name of the victim, indicating that he wishes to speak with them about a legal matter and provides a call-back telephone number. Often, the calls are made to the victim via the victim’s land-line or home phone number.
Upon calling the number, we find it is a voicemail — with a female indicating that you’ve reached the “Champaign County Sheriff’s Department - Warrants and Citations Division.” The voicemail instructs that you should leave your name and a contact number where you can be immediately reached.
Additional victims indicate that when speaking with the scammer, they were advised that they failed to appear for federal grand jury date and must pay a fine to avoid arrest.
In the past, such scams have been noted as including (but being limited to) the following:
- A warrant has been issued for your arrest and you must pay bond immediately to avoid arrest
- A citation has been issued to you and you must pay bond immediately to avoid arrest
- A civil judgment has been issued against you, resulting in an arrest warrant and requiring an immediate posting of bond to avoid arrest
- A relative has a citation/warrant issued and a bond must be posted to avoid their arrest or incarceration
Please note that the Champaign County Sheriff’s Office DOES NOT conduct such business and will never request payment, credit/debit information or banking information. If you receive the call described above, do not provide any information and disconnect the call immediately.
If you have received the call described above, contact the sheriff’s Investigations Division so investigators can collect details about the scam. The number is (937) 484-6091.
For other kinds of phone scams, you can report it to the Federal Trade Commission by clicking here .
For additional tips and information, click here .