Newberry County Sheriff Lee Foster says that scam artists are calling or e mailing citizens and identifying themselves as law enforcement officers. The scammers have identified themselves as being with the Sheriff’s Office and with the FBI.
The scammer then tells the potential victim that they are in trouble with law enforcement and that if they will send money, law enforcement will drop their charges.
Foster said that while they were not aware of any one who has sent money to the scammers at this point, several complaints have been filed with the Sheriff’s Office of attempted scams of this type.
The Sheriff said that law enforcement does not handle criminal charges by telephone, and that if you are in trouble with law enforcement you can rest assured that you will receive a visit from a law enforcement officer. He added that no legitimate law enforcement officer or agency would ever be willing to accept money to dismiss criminal charges.
Foster said that if you receive a call from someone attempting this or any other scam, please hang up and contact your local law enforcement agency immediately.
“We want our citizens to be armed with the most up to date information on current trends and scams at work in and around our community,” said Foster. “We want to provide them with the information to prevent becoming a victim of crime because often once the money is sent it because nearly impossible to ever recover their loss.”
If you are ever unsure about someone you are dealing with contact your local law enforcement agency before taking any action. A legitimate business will never mind you checking them out, but you may just save yourself a lot of money, time, and heartache.
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