March 6, 2023 —
The Sweetwater County Sherriff’s Office posted the following statement on its Facebook page today:
We’ve received multiple reports of an attempted and recycled scam in the last few days. Scammers claim to be “Sergeant Rhea” with the sheriff’s office, demanding payment for outstanding arrest warrants or failing to appear in court. They even have a spoofed voicemail box with a greeting from “Sergeant Rhea” if you call them back.
While we have a “Sergeant Rhea” who works for us, this is not us, nor is this how we do business. We will never call you to verify your personal identifying or financial information, demand payment for anything over the phone, serve court paperwork (unless it’s a courtesy call trying to arrange to meet in person for civil paperwork), or threaten you with an arrest warrant for failing to pay or appear in court.
Please know these are fraudulent scam calls. It is common now for these sophisticated criminal enterprises to use fake or spoofed phone numbers (or names) to appear legitimate. Never volunteer personal or financial details over the phone. Never send money to people you don’t know using prepaid cards, money orders, wire transfers, or peer-to-peer payment services (i.e., PayPal or Venmo). When in doubt, hang up and independently verify the call’s legitimacy.
Given the transnational and international organization of these scam calls and criminal networks, local law enforcement is often limited in the enforcement action we can take to stop these calls altogether, especially if you recognized the call as a scam and didn’t disclose your personal details or send payment.
If you fall victim to one of these scams, file a police report with local law enforcement based on where you live. If you didn’t fall victim to the scam, report the details (along with the phone number used) to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) at https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/.
