YAKIMA COUNTY, Wash. — The Yakima County Sheriff’s Office is warning everyone to be on the lookout for scammers impersonating U.S. Marshals and attempting to coerce them into giving up their money.
“These scammers are particularly good at what they’re doing: very convincing,” Yakima County sheriff’s spokesperson Casey Schilperoort said.
Schilperoort said some of the scammers are looking up the names of actual law enforcement officers and using those names as a way to encourage people to trust it’s a real call.
Some also use an app that spoofs the phone number they’re calling from so that when a person answers, it looks like they’re receiving a legitimate call from a government agency.
Scammers may claim you need to “post bond” and threaten to take away your children or your job if you don’t comply with their demands.
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Schilperoort said it’s a good idea to just hang up and if for some reason the call turns out to have actually been from a real law enforcement officer, they will understand.
“Even if it’s one of our deputies, and they think, ‘Hey, this could be a scam. I’m gonna hang up on you,’” Schilperoort said. “Call our office back. We’re perfectly happy with…
