“The caller references false case numbers to appear more legitimate and requests that the payment be made through PayPal, Apple Pay, a money order, or by another method of payment or else they would be arrested,” the sheriff’s office said. “In some situations, the resident is asked to go to specific bitcoin and/or cryptocurrency ATMs near their home address where they can deposit the funds.”
Some scammers will clone phone numbers to appear legitimate on caller ID. The phone number may appear to be coming from the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, but has actually been 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 does not call residents and threaten to arrest them for unpaid fines, warrants, missing court dates, etc. Anyone who receive those calls should hang up and report it to their local police department.
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