Jan. 10—JAMESTOWN — The Stutsman County Sheriff’s Office is warning residents about a scam that involves a scammer impersonating specific deputies.
“We would like to clarify that our office will never ask you for money or payment information over the phone,” the Stutsman County Sheriff’s Office wrote on its Facebook page on Thursday, Jan. 9.
A Jamestown police officer received a call and a voicemail on Thursday from an individual impersonating Chief Deputy Jason Falk, an investigator with the Stutsman County Sheriff’s Office.
“Obviously, it wasn’t me,” Falk said. “It was a scammer.”
Falk said the scam involves someone impersonating Stutsman County Sheriff’s Office personnel and telling an individual that there is a warrant for his or her arrest. He said the scammer then tells the individual to pay money to avoid being arrested.
He said the scammer asks for money through prepaid debit cards or gift cards.
“The common scam is always when they want the money in cards like gift cards or something along those lines,” he said.
Falk said a returned call from the Jamestown police officer’s phone to the scammer went to voicemail with a message saying it was the Stutsman County Law Enforcement Center’s non-emergency line and to call 911 if it’s an emergency.
“It sounded pretty legit and obviously it’s not,” he said.
He said heard secondhand on Thursday that a victim sent money to the scammer. As of Thursday evening, the victim wasn’t sure he or she wanted to report it because the individual was “pretty embarrassed,” Falk said.
Falk said law enforcement will not call individuals to request money and gift cards to pay a bail bond to avoid an arrest.
“That’s kind of the common denominator with all the scams is sending money in that fashion,” he said.
Another sign that the call is a scam is when the scammer tells individuals to stay confidential about sending law enforcement money, Falk said. He said the scammer is trying to prevent people from calling the actual Stutsman County Law Enforcement Center.
He said the scam involving someone impersonating a law enforcement officer has been occurring across the country. He said the scam has been going on for a while in Barnes County.
If anybody receives a suspicious call, Falk said to call Stutsman County Sheriff’s Office at (701) 252-6200 or the Stutsman County Communications Center at (701) 252-1000 and ask to speak with a deputy to verify the phone call.
“If people would do that more, we’d have less (victims of scams),” he said.