TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — The Leon County Sheriff’s Office along with the Tallahassee Police Department warned individuals to be aware of a telephone fraud scheme.
According to a post on the Leon County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page, individuals have been contacted by callers pretending to be from the Leon County Sheriff’s Office.
The scammer uses a real employee’s name from the sheriff’s office and has accurate information on the person they contact.
The caller tells individuals they are from the sheriff’s office and instructs that the individual has a warrant issued for their arrest for not going to jury duty.
The scammer tells an individual that they must pay a set amount of money in order to have the warrant dismissed.
The scammer usually asks the individual to pay by purchasing a gift card.
The Leon County Sheriff’s Office noted that it will never call an individual and ask an individual to pay money to get rid of a warrant.
The Tallahassee Police Department posted on its Facebook page that law enforcement personnel will never call to request money from a citizen, especially in the form of gift cards, to pay a debt or avoid arrest.
Fraud calls, text messages and emails can be reported to local law enforcement agencies or to the United States Federal Trade Commission at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
