INDIANAPOLIS — The Marion County Sheriff’s Office is warning people after seeing an uptick in reports about police impersonation scams.
The office said it is hearing from court staff saying they are seeing a dramatic uptick in the number of calls to their office from people who have been recently scammed. They are trying to get the word out to prevent more people from falling victim to a scam.
The Better Business Bureau says one of the most common scams in the U.S. involves people pretending to be government officials. In some cases, the caller claims to be law enforcement and threatens legal consequences in order to swindle money out of the potential victim.
The Marion County Sheriff’s Office said they are hearing about scams involving callers claiming they are a Sheriff’s Deputy and telling the victim that they missed jury duty, have a warrant out for their arrest, and must pay a certain dollar amount to resolve the matter.
“These swindlers are the lowest of the low,” said Sheriff Forestal. “They steal the identity of real Deputies and can even make it look like they are calling from our official telephone number. What is worse is that they often prey upon our most vulnerable citizens, including the elderly.”
So far in 2022, the Federal Trade Commission received 990 reports of police, sheriff, or FBI imposter scams nationwide. These scams resulted in a total of $5.64 million in losses, an average loss of $2,500.
Locally, the…
