The Sumner County Sheriff’s Office issued a warning to the public on Friday to be aware of an increase in scam calls falsely claiming to be from the Sumner County Sheriff’s Office.
In a social media post, the Sumner County Sheriff’s Office said, “Recently, there has been an increase in scam calls. When the calls are answered, the subject claims to be from the Sheriff’s Office and will even provide a name; in some cases, they have used a third-party application, so the caller ID shows the Sheriff’s Office phone number. When you check the number, it appears to be from the Sheriff’s Office.”
According to the Sumner County Sheriff’s Office, the caller will request payment, claiming that you owe the department money for missing jury duty or an unpaid fine and threatening that you may be arrested if you do not pay. Additionally, you will be requested to remain on the line as you purchase prepaid cards and provide them with the card numbers or your credit/debit card information.
“The Sumner County Sheriff’s Office will never require payment over the phone. Always use extreme caution when providing financial or personal information over the phone to anyone,” the police department warned.
Two residents of Rutherford County, Tennessee, received similar phone calls last month. One resident of Rutherford County surrendered $4,000 to the scammer through her bank account and MoneyPak cards after being told that the caller was an officer from the warrants division.
In a Facebook post shared by the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office, Detective Austin Mobbs said, “If someone directs you to get money cards, you should know right then you are being scammed.”
Scams have the most significant effect on people over sixty, and the number of victims continues to rise. In an FBI report released this year, the FBI stated that in 2021, there were over 92,000 victims of fraud over the age of 60, losing a total of $1.7 billion to scammers, which is a 74 percent increase in loss since 2020. Tennessee is ranked 20th in the United States for the number of victims over the age of sixty, with 1,686.
The Sumner County Sheriff’s Office encourages anyone who lives in Sumner County who has received one of these calls or has been the victim of fraud to contact the Sumner County Sheriff’s office at (615) 452-2616 or contact the Emergency Communications Center at (615) 451-3838.
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Kaitlyn Osteen is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Send Kaitlyn news tips to [email protected].
Photo “Sumner County Sheriff Department” by Sumner County Sheriff Department.
When I first heard this I thought that they were talking about the people who harass citizens by phone with the pitch that they are soliciting donations for some police organization. Apparently some of these rackets actually give a small percentage of the “take” to the police organization but keep the lion’s share for themselves. Others just keep it all. Just tell them “no” and hang up!