Sheriff’s Office warns about scammers who demand payment to avoid arrest
Staff report
ALACHUA COUNTY, Fla. – Alachua County Sheriff’s Office (ASO) is warning the public that scammers are posing as ASO deputies, using real names, and calling citizens to demand money to avoid arrest.
Click here to watch ASO’s video.
The Alachua County Sheriff’s Office will never call you over the phone or email you demanding money, gift cards, or Bitcoin as a form of payment. If you ever receive a phone call requesting or demanding money, do not provide any personal information to the caller and immediately hang up.
According to ASO, these scams have become more sophisticated over time and have begun using the names and identities of actual members of the law enforcement community. A law enforcement official will never call you and claim you owe money for something that has gone unpaid, to avoid being arrested on a warrant, or for missing jury duty. No matter how real it may seem or how legitimate the caller or request may sound, you can always hang up and call the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office directly at 352-955-1818.
These scammers can sound very convincing and may try to keep you on the phone until you’ve made the payment, claiming that you will be arrested if you hang up, call law enforcement, or even go to a police station. Again, if you receive one of these calls, you should immediately hang up; if you are uncertain whether the call was valid, you can call 352-955-1818.
There should be a bounty on all scammers.
They’re indiscriminate, the law should allow citizens to be as well.
That would work.
My MOTTO, If you’re Not expecting a phone call, or Do Not know the number! DON’T ANSWER THE PHONE
But then I would miss out on all the fun of putting on my best 90-year-old man voice and arguing with the scammer, in excruciatingly slow detail, that my American Express card number really is just “three”. Because I was one of the first to apply in September ’58. The old paper cards, you remember those? My gal had her eyes set on a ’57 Chevy, and they’d already been out two years, since September ’56. And I wasn’t one to disappoint. Oh, she was a looker, that gal. Married 50 years in 2006, until she passed in ’08. Got a bad pneumonia while we were whale-watching off the coast of Greenland. It was a good ship, but just not warm enough, you see. Captain was a fellow I met in Dublin on a business trip. Speaking of business, what were we talking about again? Oh, right, the whales. So, you see…
My late mother used to do that. ‘I’m so glad you called. I want to tell you about my little kitty. I just got her, you know. My daughter found her in the drain pipe… Be sure to ask them questions.
I’d curse them out whether they’re real cops or not. Makes no difference to me.
Scammers should instead call up the Gainesville City Commission and pose as reps from some woke organization, dedicated to giving out more free handouts, housing and free E-bikes. All donation-funded.
Ward & Eastman would trip over each other in a race to load up gift cards & Bitcoin with COG money.
Scammers could drain the city dry.
City and County Commissions, and SBAC are the big scammers.
Many of us are well aware of the BioFiasco, Wild Spaces & Public Spaces, and 1 mil for schools they duped people into voting for.
Biomass plant was a huge mistake, I get it … and Wild Spaces, just a slush fund for pet projects … BUT the 1 mil for schools is positively enriching the next generation and is money well spent.
It would appear you’ve got some catching up to do on the latest school district restructuring.
I get perverted with them. Ask what pantys they are wearing if it’s a girl. Or if it’s a guy I get really gay.