LANCASTER – The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is warning the public about phone scammers posing as members of LASD and scaring victims by telling them they have an arrest warrant, subpoena or jury duty.
“The scammers then threaten the victims with a search warrant for their home and ends the call by telling the victim to put money on a prepaid card,” according to an Advisory from the Lancaster Sheriff’s Station.
Officials are asking local residents to keep the following tips in mind:
- No legitimate police agency will ever ask you to verify your information over the phone. You should never provide your social security number, address, middle name or any other information to anyone calling you.
- The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department will never demand an immediate payment in lieu of an arrest. Often times, scammers will use the sense of urgency to rush you to make a payment, threatening to arrest you if you don’t pay immediately. That is not how we work.
- You will never be asked to pay for any legal matter with a Western Union account, prepaid card, ITunes card or any other form of pre paid card.
- If you ever receive a call from anyone identifying themselves as a peace officer, make sure you ask for their employee number and what station they work out of. You can search for the public telephone number for that station and call back. Do not call the number provided to you by the caller, this may be part of the scam.
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Phone Threats says
Hang up!