GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – Green Bay Police say a victim reported a phone scam that was a law enforcement imposture.The victim says the number came up as Brown County Sheriff’s Office and the scammer claimed that if the victim did not send the money, that they were going to arrest them.
Green Bay Police Commander Kevin Warych says this kind of scam is extra disturbing.”We want people to believe that if someone identifies themselves as a police officer, they take it for what the person is saying. A scam like this really puts doubt in a person’s mind and really hurts the officer trying to make contact with a person.”
Often times, police officers will actually attempt to contact people over the phone.
He says Law enforcement agencies cannot accept gift cards as payment.
“Anytime someone asks you for money over the phone, that is the biggest red flag you can get.”
He says if the call seems suspicious, feel free to ask questions until you feel comfortable.The Police Department passed the warning over Facebook.
SCAM ALERTWe just took a report from a victim of a scam. While the victim was at our department, the scammer called and the number displayed was the Brown County Sheriff’s Office number (920-448-4200). The scammer claimed that if the victim did not send the money, that they were going to arrest them.
The scam originally started as coming from a Florida number and the person claimed to be from the US Marshalls Office. The victim was asked if someone had stolen his ID because there was someone arrested by them that had his ID. In order to avoid being arrested, the victim was ordered to go to a specific store to purchase multiple gift cards. The scammer was on the phone the entire time the victim was in the store and was told to not tell anybody why the gift cards were being purchased.
Law enforcement agencies cannot accept gift cards as payment. We will not be calling you over the phone to take any type of payment. Even if the number displayed is a law enforcement number, scammers can easily spoof caller ID displays. Scammers often spoof caller IDs to appear to be coming from a local number. Generally we tell people that if you don’t know the number that is calling to let the call go to voicemail.
