The scammer then tells the victim they have missed a court date, owe fines or have a criminal offense, and the caller seeks money or an electronic transfer to keep warrants from being issued or an arrest being made.
The WCSO said the office does not conduct business in that manner and employees do not arrange or accept money from the public in lieu of arrest or to resolve criminal or court-related matters.
If anyone has been a victim of this type of crime, or has information, reach out out to the Warren County Sheriff’s Office at 513-695-1280, or e-mail crimetips@wcsooh.org.
In November, the Butler County Sheriff’s Office issued a similar fraud alert.
A scammer called a Liberty Township and told them they had two felony warrants for their arrest and that if they did not pay they would be arrested. The scammer told the victim to purchase a Green Dot card and forward the information to them.
“This particular scammer mentioned phrases such as ‘secure electronic voucher’ and ‘run the card through an electronic kiosk.’ The scammer then became agitated and threatened them not to call or come to the sheriff’s office or they would be arrested on the spot,” according to the warning.
The scammer also used a fictitious judge’s name and case number along with BCSO employee names with false titles.
Butler County Sheriff’s Capt. Rick Bucheit said while the phone numbers scammers used and appear to be local, the are “spoofs” and they have had no luck tracing them.
“If I were to guess, we get a couple reports a month of scam callers,” Bucheit said. “A lot of these people are using actual employ names they obviously get from our website and are making these calls.”
Another common scam targets grandparents who receive a call saying their loved one is in jail or going to court and money is needed to have them released.
Continue to be vigilant and always report such scams to your local law enforcement agency as soon as possible. The BCSO posts crime prevention tips on Tuesday, which include scam warnings.
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