Lee County sheriff warns of impersonation scam

DIXON — The Lee County Sheriff’s Office is alerting the public of an imposter scam that deputies were recently made aware of.

According to a news release, unknown individuals are contacting Lee County residents and using the names of actual deputies that were probably obtained from the webpage of the sheriff’s office.

The scammers tell individuals there is a civil warrant out for their apprehension and that money needs to be deposited in a local kiosk to prevent their arrest. The scammers went so far as to claim that the sheriff’s office was actually pinging the cellular device of the victim so they could be taken into custody on the civil warrant.

The victim was also told that “social services” had been contacted to take their children into custody once they have been arrested.

There are several other scams circulating in the country. In some of the incidents, scammers attempt to collect a fine in lieu of arrest due to a claim of identity theft, failing to report for jury duty, or other offenses.

They then tell victims they can avoid arrest by withdrawing cash and transferring it to the government, purchasing a prepaid debit card such as a Green Dot card or gift card and reading the card number over the phone to satisfy the fine, or by depositing cash into financial kiosks or bitcoin ATMs.

Scammers use many tactics to sound and appear credible. They sometimes provide information like badge numbers, names of actual law enforcement officials and federal judges, and courthouse addresses. They may also spoof their phone numbers to appear on caller IDs as if they are calling from a government agency or a courthouse.

The sheriff’s office said residents should be on the lookout for the following red flags:

• Being asked to deposit money in a kiosk to pay for a fine.
• Being pressured to act immediately and to remain on the phone with the scammer.
• Scare tactics in which you are told a loved one is in danger, that your computer has been hacked or threatening you with arrest.

If you believe you were a victim of such a scam, you are encouraged to report the incident to your local law enforcement agency along with the FBI – Chicago Field Office or the Federal Trade Commission at www.ReportFraud.ftc.gov.