OSHKOSH, WI (WTAQ) — For the second time this week, a local law enforcement agency is warning about callers pretending to be an employee and demanding payment to clear a warrant. Oshkosh Police are warning about callers claiming to be officers from the department, and demanding payment to avoid arrest.
“It seems like this is a popular scam for this week possibly…Officers would never call someone and tell them that they needed to pay cash or pay with gift cards or even a credit card over the phone to avoid being arrested on a warrant,” said Officer Kate Mann. “I saw a similar thing occurring down in Kentucky. So it sounds like it’s occurring all over the place, and I did see that Winnebago County had this happen recently as well.”
Mann says while officers may call citizens regarding investigations, they would not call about payment or threaten arrest.
“They might have a lot of information about you. So you may think that the person calling is actually from the business or agency,” Mann said. “Hang up. Call the phone number that they have for whatever business, agency, department and verify who they’re talking to and if they actually need to provide some information or if there’s some concern.”
Make sure you’re calling the actual department number. Don’t just redial the number because it popped up on Caller ID as the ‘Oshkosh Police Department’.
“Whatever the situation is, if they say gift cards, that’s a big red flag,” Mann told WTAQ News. “‘Stay on the line with me and let’s go to the bank and get some money out.’ ‘Go to the store and purchase gift cards and stay on the line with me, because I want to get those numbers off the gift card.’ If people are hearing things like that, those are major red flags.”
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