JACKSON — The Teton County Sheriff’s Office has seen a rash of calls this week regarding scammers posing as local law enforcement officers to extort money or personal information.
“There’s been a wave of phone scams this week where the caller is using deputies’ names,” Teton County Sheriff Matt Carr said. “They tend to target things by ZIP code, working in a certain area at a certain time. They’re probably pulling our deputies’ names off the internet.”
This week, Dispatch Manager for the Sheriff’s Office Riclyn Betsinger said that although she hasn’t been tracking the number of scam-related calls she has received, she estimates she has fielded 30 to 40 this week from people who are reporting scammers.
“What’s different this week is they’re posing as law enforcement and using law enforcement names,” Betsinger said. “Sometimes they’re even sending it through our law enforcement numbers so [the phone call] shows up as dispatch.
“People are getting calls about missing jury duty, scammers saying because you missed jury duty you now have to send some kind of money,” Betsinger said. “Or that you have a warrant out for your arrest, so you have to pay to take care of it.
“A lot of time they’re phishing for identity information, so they will ask you to confirm your personal information on something, and then…
