Sheriff issues warning about several phone scams

ajc.com

Montgomery County Sheriff Rob Streck is urging residents to be cautious because there are a variety of phone call scams throughout the county.

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One of the scams involve someone claiming to be Capt. Jay Wheeler of the sheriff’s office, who says there is a warrant out for their arrest and that they must pay for the bond over the phone with a credit card or other method to avoid being arrested.

Fraudulent callers in some cases clone actual phone numbers to appear to be legitimate, and residents are reporting they are receiving the same scam call from multiple phone numbers.

“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,” Streck stated in a release.

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The sheriff’s office never calls residents or threatens arrest for unpaid fines, warrants, missed court dates or other matters.

Residents who receive such calls should hang up and report it to their local police department, Streck said.

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