(Nez Perce County) On November 21st, 2024 a citizen came to the Nez Perce County Sheriff’s Office to report fraud. The victim was contacted by phone by a male that claimed to be a Lt. Brandon Scott with the Nez Perce County Sheriff’s Office, this person does not exist here. This male told the victim that they missed a court date for Jury duty. The male also told the victim that there was a Marshal’s warrant for them and that they needed to take care of it or go to jail. The victim left work as instructed. The male told the victim to stay on the phone and not hang up, he also told the victim if they got pulled over to hand the phone over to law enforcement and he would take care of it.
The male was able to convince the victim to withdraw one thousand dollars from their account, then had the victim go to Rosauers to purchase Cryptocurrency through the CoinMe kiosk. The male had a southern accent and called the victim using the Nez Perce County Sheriff’s Office number.
The Nez Perce County Sheriff’s Office would like to remind the public not to fall for these types of scams. No Law Enforcement entity will ever call you and ask for money over the phone. There is also no way, other than arrest, court appearance or a Judge’s ruling, for a warrant to be dismissed. Please also remember that scammers can clone phone numbers, so it will appear that you are receiving a call from a law enforcement entity, when it is actually just a scammer. DO NOT give any personal information out over the phone unless you are absolutely sure of who you are talking to. If someone calls you telling you that you have a warrant, it’s a scam! Hang up! As we approach the holidays scams will start to increase.
If you start receiving many phone and email scams, one possibility is that there was a data breach at a company somewhere and your information has been sold on the web. A good practice to have is to check your credit report often and look for anything out of the ordinary. Please share this notice with as many people as you can!
