Some Cleveland County residents have been the target of a scam that includes people pretending to be Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office deputies.
The Sheriff’s Office has received numerous calls about the would-be scammer or scammers, according to Sheriff Alan Norman.
According to Norman, a person will receive a telephone call. The scammer uses the name of a Cleveland County deputy to identify himself and says the person has a warrant that can be resolved over the phone. The person is told to get a prepaid credit card or money card and in a second call to provide the pin number.
Norman said once that information is given, the scammer can take the money which is ultimately untraceable.
“These scams unfortunately are commonplace across the United States,” he said.
Typically, these scammers are not in the United States but use spoofed phone numbers to fool their marks.
“They’re persistent because they’ll continue to call back if you engage in any kind of conversation,” said Norman. “The best thing to do is to tell them you’re going to call law enforcement, write down the number they’re calling from and immediately call local law enforcement with the information.”
Residents should know that law enforcement will never call seeking payment. He also said that many prepaid cards even say on the back that the cards can’t be used to pay taxes, bills, loans, warrants or bail.
In the past, scammers have called Cleveland County residents pretending to…
