The Ventura County Sheriff’s Office in Southern California is warning the public about a cunning phone scam that has been on the rise recently. Citizens are advised to hang up and block the scam number immediately if they receive such calls.
The sheriff’s office issued a warning on social media earlier this week, stating that scammers are pretending to be local police officers and intimidating residents, resulting in several victims being swindled out of thousands of dollars. The scam process is as follows:
“A scammer claiming to be from the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office calls multiple local residents, identifying himself as ‘Sergeant Locker’ and even providing a fake badge number. The scammer then ‘informs’ the victims that they owe $1,500 in lawsuit fees for missing a grand jury summons.
“Subsequently, the scammer posing as ‘Sergeant Locker’ convinces the victims to use a Coinflip digital currency self-service terminal (also known as a Bitcoin ATM) to purchase Bitcoin for paying the supposed lawsuit fees to avoid legal troubles.
“The scammer provides detailed instructions on how to conduct the Bitcoin transaction and instructs the victims to transfer the Bitcoin to the scammer’s cryptocurrency wallet. Once the money is received, the scammer empties the wallet and hangs up the call.”
Authorities emphasize that due to the unique nature of cryptocurrency transactions, once the money is sent, it cannot be recovered. Furthermore, in such scams, scammers use fictitious internet phone numbers that become disconnected after the scam concludes.
In similar scams from years past, scammers would leave voicemails posing as police if the initial call was missed, threatening victims to call back immediately to resolve legal issues, or face fines and imprisonment. Upon calling back, the scammer would gradually coerce the victims into paying “fines” and providing sensitive information, leading to identity theft and fraud.
Police urge the public to be cautious of anyone claiming to be law enforcement or government officials. They stress that police would never demand the use of cryptocurrency or gift cards as payment for fines, especially over the phone.
It is also important to note that jury duty is a critical responsibility for American citizens. However, non-citizens should not ignore jury duty summonses if received and must follow the registration steps by selecting that they are not US citizens and thus ineligible for jury duty.
Another technique to identify scams is to be wary of strangers requesting sensitive information over the phone or via email. According to the government entities involved in the aforementioned scams, the Ventura County authorities emphasize that the county court would never ask for any sensitive information over the phone or email.
Most communications between the county court and the public are typically conducted through mail from the United States Postal Service. Even legitimate court correspondence would not request personal details like social security numbers, bank or credit card information, and certainly not demand the use of cryptocurrency or gift cards for fines.
If anyone receives a suspicious call, especially from someone claiming to be “Sergeant Locker,” they should hang up immediately and contact the local police department using official phone numbers instead of dialing back unknown numbers. If unfortunately scammed, individuals should report the incident promptly.