Port Orange, FL – The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office issues a “Scam Alert” after someone pretending to work for the law enforcement agency scammed an elderly Port Orange woman out of thousands of dollars.
Authorities are on the case after the 81-year-old victim and 2 other women – a 62-year-old and a 68-year-old – reported receiving suspicious phone calls on Wednesday.
VCSO spokesman Gary Davidson says this scammer is trying to trick people into paying money by threatening to send them to jail.
“The caller identifies himself as Lieutenant Cross with the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office and even gives a badge number to make the call sound more official,” Davidson said. “The caller then proceeds to tell the intended target that they have a warrant for their arrest for failing to show up for a jury summons and need to pay a $5,500 fine to clear it up.”
The 62-year-old woman told VCSO she got suspicious when she received the call and hung up. The 68-year-old woman was stopped by a suspicious grocery store manager just before she bought the 11 pre-paid gift cards the scammer told her to get to pay the fine, according to Davidson.
“An 81-year-old woman actually bought the pre-loaded gift cards at a local grocery store and then read the 10-digit numbers off of each gift card to the scammer over the phone,” Davidson noted. “When she went home and told her husband what she had done, he told her it was a scam.”
Investigators are also looking into other similarly suspicious calls reported to them recently, including some soliciting donations for VCSO’s “Cops & Kids” school supply program. Davidson says that’s also a scam.
“The Sheriff’s Office reminds residents that it doesn’t engage in phone solicitations or call people and demand payment to clear up an open warrant,” Davidson added. “Anyone who receives a telephone call like this shouldn’t give any personal information over the phone, shouldn’t send money, gift cards, cashier’s checks or pre-paid cards and should never agree to meet with the caller.”
Authorities recommend hanging up immediately and reporting the call as soon as possible to the nearest local law enforcement agency.
Copyright 2016 Southern Stone Communications.