You’ve probably seen the warnings. Just over the past few weeks, News4JAX has reported on several law enforcement agencies warning the community about different scams taking over during the holiday season.
From phone calls involving people impersonating police officers to text messages related to bogus package deliveries, scammers are becoming more cunning in their attempts to coerce people out of their hard-earned mula.
Reporter Aleesia Hatcher received one of those calls on Monday. While she didn’t fall for the bait that the scammer was trying to feed her, she knew others could potentially fall victim to the schemes.
The impersonator told Aleesia they were with the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office. The caller said she had two bench warrants for her arrest for missing jury duty — something she was not assigned.
Then they walked her through the steps to pay a fee that would help her avoid jail time.
“Go inside Walmart customer service. Show them the barcode. Tell them to $500 onto your personal barcode. That’s all you have to tell them then you give them your driver’s license. Do not speak to me,” the scammer instructed.
He then told her to take the gift card to the sheriff’s office where th impersonator was supposed to meet her -- in uniform -- to pick up the card.
Aleesia: “Once I get down there then what do I have to do to proceed?”
Scammer: “Sign off on a DNR which is a did not receive and perform a signature analysis test that compares signatures. As long as your signature is not compared, it is total grounds of dismissal.”
MORE: Impersonation scams: How to make sure the person contacting you is legit
Retired Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office director Tom Hackney said it’s scary to see how elaborate these scams have gotten.
“It’s it’s so elaborate. And it’s it’s almost letter perfect for what you need to look out for with these fraud cases with the scam calls,” Hackney said. “They’re preying upon what your fear is that that you’ve gotten in trouble that you’ve done something wrong.”
Hackney said there are keywords to listen for if you ever find yourself questioning the legitimacy of a call.
“If I had one point to make, it’s the cautionary tale about the use of gift cards, any kind of gift card -- Walmart gift cards, or some kind of Western Union money. If there’s anything that causes you to stop what you’re doing, and go get money, right then, that’s what they’re looking for,” he said.
It can be tough to know if something is a scam or legitimate, but Hackney said when in doubt, call the government agency or company that the impersonator claims to be representing.
Aleesia called the sheriff’s office and was told that they would not make a phone call about a warrant. If a warrant existed for an individual, officers are going to come and get them, not make a phone call and offer money as a way out.
“There are fines that are associated with missing jury duty, you would be summoned to appear before a judge that would cover that. And you would have to do some explaining as to why you missed that. It would be up to that particular judge to make a decision,” Hackney said.
In most cases, unfortunately, the people behind these scams aren’t caught.
“Unfortunately, the suspects in these cases are many times international or located in some other country, [so] investigating and solving those is very, very difficult and hard to do. And certainly hard to get money back once that money is gone. It’s almost impossible to get back,” Hackney said.
Have you received any calls or fallen victim to phone scams? Let us know below: