The scammers are getting smarter.
That is the message from Lieutenant Sean Littlefield with the Manitowoc County Sheriff’s Office.
He told SeehaferNews.com that over the past month, twelve people have stepped into the Sheriff’s Office to report being the target of a scammer.
Lieutenant Littlefield says the scammers are not only continuing to use the same old tactics of trying to get you to give them money over the phone, they are now using technology to make the calls seam more legitimate.
“They’re spoofing our numbers, so when they call you, it looks like a local number, and it is actually a valid law enforcement number,” he explained. “They’re utilizing our deputies names. So if you do Google it, that person probably would come up as a sheriff’s office employee potentially.”
Lieutenant Littlefield wants to remind residents that they should never give out personal or banking information over the phone.
“We, as law enforcement, are going to never ask over the phone for somebody to make a payment on a warrant,” he assured citizens. “We’re not going to threaten anybody with payment, nor would the court hosts, nor would any financial institute.”
If you do receive a call that sounds like it could be a scam, the best course of action is to hang up, and either call the number of the department or bank that is claiming to call you, or to go directly to their office, and report the scam to law enforcement.
