JEFFERSON COUNTY, Ala. ( WIAT ) — The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office is asking the public to be aware of potential scammers posing as sheriff’s office officials.
In a press release Friday, the JCSO referenced a recent case in which a woman was told she failed to respond to a subpoena. The scammer, who used the name of a real deputy, told her a bench warrant had been issued for her arrest if she did not pay a fine of $3,000 immediately.
The woman did not fall for the scam and contacted law enforcement officials to report the incident.
JCSO Sheriff Mark Pettway said anyone who calls and says they are with a government or law enforcement agency, then requests personal financial information or demands payment, is a scammer.
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“Scammers will send phishing emails pretending to be from law enforcement to lure people to phony web pages and get the public to share personal information,” Pettway said in a statement. “These thieves often prey on the elderly using fake Caller ID information to trick their victims into thinking they are someone local, someone they can trust – like a government agency, police department, sheriff’s office, or a company they do business with – like a bank or cable provider.”