Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office Warns Residents About Financial Telephone Scammers Impersonating Law Enforcement

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hennepin county sheriff

Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contact: Andy Skoogman, 612-919-5918

 

Hennepin County Sheriff's Office Warns Residents About Financial Telephone Scammers Impersonating Law Enforcement

August 5, 2021 (Minneapolis) ­– The Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) has received multiple reports from residents who say they’ve received telephone calls from individuals posing as HCSO staff. In some cases, calls appear to be coming from legitimate HCSO phone numbers. These callers are telling residents that there is a warrant out for their arrest because they missed a federal court appearance and are in contempt. The phone scammers tell residents that they will be arrested unless they pay a fine. The scammers often encourage residents to purchase prepaid money transfer cards, such as MoneyPak, call the scammer back, and read them the numbers on the cards.

In several reported instances, the scammers have claimed to be employees of the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office, including Sheriff David Hutchinson.  

The HCSO and other law enforcement agencies will never contact individuals via phone or email to ask for any kind of payment. If individuals receive such a call, they should not provide any personal information or make any payments to the caller.

Anyone who believes they have been victimized by a scam caller should record the caller’s number, save any voicemails that may have been left by the caller, and contact their local law enforcement agency.

Individuals should not rely on caller ID or recorded messages to verify the origin of a phone call. Scammers have become sophisticated in their use of technology In some cases, they use “spoofed” numbers to make it appear as if they are calling from a legitimate law enforcement or government agency number. Scammers have also been known to create fraudulent recorded messages that identify their number as originating from law enforcement.

If you are uncertain about the identity of a caller, hang up the phone, locate the official phone number of the agency, and call the number directly.

HCSO will be launching a new awareness campaign about phone scammers impersonating law enforcement later this summer.

– HCSO–

 

Look for more news on the Hennepin County Sheriff's website at http://www.hennepinsheriff.org.