Scam alert: Caller posing as member of Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office

ajc.com

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office is warning the community about a scam phone call asking for money and claiming to be from the sheriff’s office.

The caller presents themself as a Capt. Ted Jackson or Sgt. Scott Morgan from the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office and says there’s a legal issue they need to discuss with the victim or alleges the victim failed to appear in court.

The scammer will ask the victim to pay a fee to avoid having a warrant out for their arrest, according to the sheriff’s office. They may ask for the payment through PayPal, Apple Pay, money order or another method.

Some scam callers will clone or spoof phone numbers to appear legitimate on caller ID. The phone number may appear to be from the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, but is actually spoofed.

“These scammers can be very convincing and while in hindsight it may be easy to blame the victims, please keep in mind that these ruthless scammers are very successful at targeting people from all walks of life and age groups,” said Sheriff Rob Streck.

The sheriff’s office will never call residents and threaten to arrest someone for unpaid fines, warrants and missed court dates. Anyone who receives a similar call should hang up and report it to their local police department.

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