Middlesex County Sheriff Warns of Phone Scam
Caller threatens arrest if money is not wired to an account.
Photos
(Editor's note: The following information was submitted by the Middlesex County Sheriff's office.)
The Middlesex Sheriff’s Office is warning citizens today of a telephone scam involving a man falsely claiming to work for the Civil Process Division of the office.
In the scam, the man allegedly claiming to be a Middlesex Sheriff’s Office deputy working on behalf of group named ‘American Cash’ and with an out of state law firm tells the person being called he, or she, will be arrested if they do not wire money to a specific bank. The call might appear to be coming from a legitimate sheriff’s office number, but it is not.
“We want citizens to be aware of this scam so they can properly protect themselves,” said Middlesex Sheriff Peter J. Koutoujian. “These are not legitimate calls. Arrests performed by the Civil Process Division deputies are done in person, never over the phone and the individual is brought to court to resolve the matter.”
The law group, who also appears to be a victim of this scam, has already posted a warning on its website regarding the scam.
The MSO is advising citizens that receive similar calls that they should not give any personal information to the caller and should immediately report the call to their local law enforcement agency.
We also ask that you contact the Middlesex Sheriff’s Office Investigation Unit at 978-932-3104.
Dave
5:01 pm on Thursday, October 18, 2012
That's why I never answer the phone.....going off paper
Janellen27
10:38 pm on Friday, October 19, 2012
It's good to know these things. Thank you very much for sharing.
There seems to be some other type of suspicious phone-calling going on. Calls from three different numbers have been coming in with no name, company, and any other ID except a state, in two cases. There's someone on the line but they hang up and don't speak when spoken to. I googled the numbers and found message board conversations about these numbers. One said one of the numbers calls to see who answers the phone at what time--in other words, what time you're home. (Just because they have an out-of-state phone number doesn't mean they're not right outside your door calling!) I called them back -- should have, I know -- and, one said I had reached a Magic Jack phone. Another said I had reached the Do Not Call office -- oh, yeah? -- and, "leave a message", but "the message box is full."
I don't like the sounds of this stuff at all. What should I do?