Harrison County Warns of Old Scam with “New Twist”
Posted/updated on: December 10, 2014 at 3:12 pm
MARSHALL The Harrison County Sheriffs Office is warning citizens about a new twist on an old scam in the area. According to KETK, the Sheriffs Office has received over 12 calls from residents during the last few days asking if there is a warrant for their arrest. According to officials, the citizen receives a call from someone self-identifying as a warrant deputy from the Harrison County Sheriffs office and then states that there is an active warrant for the immediate arrest of that person due to missing a court date or a jury summons. The caller then states even though the warrant is for the immediate arrest,” the warrant will be removed after the payment of a fee that must be paid by a Money-pack card or a pre-paid credit card.
Heres the twist. The caller advises the citizen to return a telephone call to a telephone number series similar to the Harrison County Sheriffs Office main telephone line and gives the person answering the telephone the code on the back of the card — except the caller states the telephone number must be dialed with a prefix of 1011. By dialing this number, you are actually calling a telephone number outside of the United States in the Bahamas or Jamaica and not the Harrison County Sheriffs Office.
They are answering the telephone identifying themselves as “the sheriffs office. Once that code on the back of the card is given, the person on the phone tells the caller to not disconnect the call and leave the telephone line open until the code can be verified. Immediately upon giving that code to the caller, that money is removed from the card and there is little that can be done to recover that money.
Since the callers are calling valid telephone numbers of citizens, it appears that they have access to citizens’ telephone numbers either by a computer directory or telephone book. The citizens that have notified the actual Sheriffs Office are older and surprised by the calls and intimidated by the callers, according to officials.
Much of a persons personal information is contained on computer databases and some of the databases are not secured, thereby allowing general information to be used by unscrupulous people, according to authorities. They say because of this, many personal information protection companies are prospering. Officials say the valid sheriffs office or police department will not call and ask for a pre-paid credit card or use intimidating language to secure any form of payment.
