ThisWeek CW 10/15/2015
http://www.thisweeknews.com/content/stories/canalwinchester/news/2015/10/12/county-sheriffs-office-issues-warning-about-phone-scam.html
The Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office has issued a fraud alert about a phone scam in which the caller claims to be a deputy.
“There are always phone scams going on and … this involves a caller identifying themselves as a sheriff’s deputy and saying that we have a warrant for your arrest for missing a jury duty summons,” Sgt. Marian Devault said at the Oct. 5 Canal Winchester City Council meeting.
“First of all, if we have a warrant for your arrest, we’ll just show up at your door, not call on the phone.”
Devault reported that one city resident lost $1,100 to this scam recently and she’s concerned others will be taken in as well.
She said she hopes to get the word out as widely as she can because once the scam is complete, it becomes very difficult to track down the perpetrator.
“One lady lost $1,100 because she was so convinced by them. They kept her on the phone all the way from her house to Kroger, where she bought two Kroger Recharge Cards and then gave them all the numbers over the phone,” Devault said. “Once she’d given the numbers, they had what the needed and they hung up on her.
“The problem is, they use these untraceable money services and the throw-away cellphones so it makes it very difficult to track them down once they’ve got the money.”
According to the sheriff’s report, two people, one identifying himself as “Deputy Mike Scott” and another as “Lt. Zach Miller” had pulled off the fraud by claiming the victim had been charged with “failure to report” and “contempt of court.”
“We had another man who fortunately didn’t fall for it but did call us and file a report,” Devault said. “That’s important for us because when we catch them, we need to have reports filed to prosecute.”
She said residents should notify the sheriff’s office if someone calls or comes to the door “demanding money for something that is a surprise to them or doesn’t seem right.”
“Please call us,” she said. “We’ll be more than happy to send someone out right away to verify if it’s a scam or not.”
The phone number for the sheriff’s office Canal Winchester substation is 614-837-7913. Any jury-related questions should be directed to the Fairfield County Common Pleas Court jury manager at 614-652-7433.