Orange County Sheriff issues press release regarding bench warrant scam calls
Published by the official Orange County Sheriff’s Department Facebook page:
Recently we’ve been receiving calls from victims regarding bench warrant scam phone calls.
The suspects in this scam call you, identify themselves as law enforcement officers and then direct you to pay a bail or fine to prevent arrest. The reasons for the warrant vary and most recently have been because you supposedly did not report for jury duty. They most often “spoof” the caller ID number to show the number or name of a local law enforcement agency. As with the other scams the suspects instruct you to obtain a prepaid credit card and give them the card number from the front of the card and the code from the back of the card.
Facts related to this scam:
? The Orange County Sheriff’s Department will never demand payment for a warrant over the telephone.
? Payments related to warrants are handled through the Court that issued the warrant.
? You will never be restricted to one form of payment.
?If you provide the numbers for the prepaid credit card then the person can access the funds anywhere in the world.
What you can do to combat this scam:
? Don’t call them back, or hang up the phone if you are talking to them
? Call the Orange County Sheriff’s Department at 714-647-7000 or 949-770-6011 to determine if an OCSD employee is actually calling you and to file a report
?Contact the Court Directly to inquire about bail or fine payment. The link http://www.occourts.org/locations contains court locations and contact information in Orange County.
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