Law enforcement warns about phone scam recurrence
Mar. 19—GUILFORD COUNTY — The Guilford County Sheriff's Office is warning people about another local occurrence of a phone scam in which con artists falsely claim to be law enforcement officers seeking money to clear legal charges.
The scam focuses on people getting high-pressure calls demanding they pay fines to avoid arrest.
Sheriff Danny Rogers said the sheriff's office has received numerous complaints from county residents about the calls in which con artists claim to be deputies. The phone scam has targeted law enforcement offices across the Piedmont Triad in recent years.
In some recent cases, con artists are using law enforcement officers' names from the Guilford County Sheriff's Office, Rogers said.
The callers claim that a person has skipped a court date or that a jury duty summons has been missed. The fake law enforcement officer says that a warrant has been or will be issued unless the person pays a fine via pre-paid cards.
The phones of the con artists are programmed to show that the caller is using an extension from the sheriff's office, but they are pre-paid converted burner phones.
The Guilford County Sheriff's Office will never ask a person to pay a fine by cash, credit card, prepaid card, PayPal, CashApp or another payment service. Rogers said that the sheriff's office doesn't conduct itself in the way the con artists act over the telephone.
If people think they owe a fine or have a question about a warrant or arrest, contact the sheriff's office directly by calling 336-641-3690.
pjohnson@hpenews.com — 336-888-3528 — @HPEpaul
