The Washington County Sheriff Otto Hanak is alerting the public of imposter type scams involving individuals claiming to be from the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, court officials, or other law enforcement officials. We are urging people to report the scam solicitation calls not only to their local law enforcement agencies through the E911 Dispatch office (979) 277-7373, but also to the Federal Trade Commission (ReportFraud.ftc.gov). The FTC has the ability to detect patterns of fraud from the information collected and share that data with law enforcement.
Scammers use many tactics to sound credible. The scammers sometimes provide information like badge numbers, names of actual law enforcement officials, county, state and federal judges, and courthouse addresses. Technology has made it more challenging to spot a scam that plays out over the phone or by email. Scammers often use sophisticated devices to spoof the Caller ID and make it appear as if they’re actually calling from the Sheriff’s office, the courthouse, or the police department. Emails can also appear to be sent from a legitimate source. Fortunately, though, with some basic information, you can learn to spot most scams and protect yourself from being the next victim.
Here’s what you need to know about the jury duty summons scam which came to light again two weeks ago in which our very own command staff member’s name was used to solicit money from one of our citizens….
