Bend, Ore. – Over the past two days, several citizens around Deschutes County have been receiving phone calls from scammers claiming to be Deputy Sheriffs from the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office “Warrants Division.”
The scammer has been stating the citizens have missed jury duty and now have a warrant for their arrest. The citizens are then advised to go purchase a pre-paid debit or credit card and go the courthouse to pay their fines and clear their warrants. The scammer then follows up with a phone call after the pre-paid cards are obtained and has the citizen provide them with the card’s number, so they can steal the funds from the card.
This scam most recently occurred in August of 2014. See the below press release for details.
On 08/19/14 the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office was contacted by a citizen reporting they had been contacted by a male subject claiming to work for the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office.
The male caller identified himself as “Lt. Jerry Gamble” with the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office. The male told the citizen they had missed Jury Duty, and a warrant had been issued for their arrest. The subject then asked the citizen to send them money to clear up the warrant or they will be arrested. The phone number used in this scam was 541-213-0143. That phone has since been disconnected.
After doing some research on this, the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office learned that this is a scam that has been occurring nation wide. The caller in all these cases used the same name, “Lt. Jerry Gamble”, and often times advised the people he was calling that a warrant had been issued for their arrest after missing jury duty.
The Sheriff’s Office wants the public to know that this is a scam, and that they should never send someone money without verifying the information they are being provided first. It is not common practice for the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office to advise a citizen they have a warrant over the phone. In most cases a citizen with a warrant will be contacted in person, and the Deputy will have proper credentials when serving the warrant.
Anyone receiving phone calls similar to this in nature is asked to contact the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office at 541-693-6911 to report it. The Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office is actively investigating this most recent scam.
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