“These scammers can be extremely convincing,” Streck said. “They rely on fear and urgency to pressure people into acting quickly. Let me be very clear — the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office will never call residents to demand payment or threaten arrest for unpaid fines, warrants or missed court dates.”
Scammers often use caller ID spoofing to make it appear the call is coming directly from the sheriff’s office, and have been using names of actual employees.
The sheriff also warned about an increase in phishing text messages claiming to come from Amazon or other businesses. These text messages often are about fraudulent safety recalls or other urgent issues. They frequently include links that can lead to stolen personal or financial information.
“Legitimate companies will not ask for sensitive information through unsolicited text messages,” Streck said. “Do not click links from unknown or unexpected messages, even if they appear to come from a trusted business.”
Awareness is one of the most effective ways to prevent victimization, so the sheriff’s office is urging residents to remain vigilant and to talk with family, friends and neighbors about these scams.
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