Douglas County Sheriff Warns of Phone Spoofing Scam

Lina PortmanMay 29, 2024

0 4 minutes read

A familiar scam is resurfacing in the metro, and the Douglas County Sheriff's Office wants you to be aware of it. They said the best thing to do is to hang up if something goes wrong. MPs add that the technology makes it difficult to try to trace the phone. But the losses are enormous for some, and it's not hard to believe the caller. “Someone will call and say it is, in this case, Captain Eric Sellers of the Douglas County Sheriff's Office,” said Captain Eric Sellers. , with DCSO. But ask Captain Sellers and he can almost assure you it wasn't really him on the other end of the line. “No, I haven't called you, but if it makes you feel better, definitely call “This is a scam targeting the metro area: someone is spoofing the sheriff's office phone number , chooses a name from the website and makes the call.” country, and they seem convincing. They will spoof our numbers, it looks like one of our official numbers, and they will ask you for money,” Sellers said. Then they will ask you to pay it at an ATM or ATM. Bitcoin machine. But Sellers said all of this should be a wake-up call. “If someone calls and says they work with the police, the sheriff's office, and they're asking for money because you didn't fulfill your jury duty, or you did . “Don’t pay a fine, just hang up the phone,” Sellers said. He adds that scammers are difficult to catch. “For us, finding this number is very, very difficult. And especially if they’re out of the country, getting out of the state is difficult, getting out of the country almost impossible,” Sellers said. He said the trend is increasing and affects all ages. And Sellers said it was pretty lucrative; its investigators have seen 50 to 75 cases in recent years, with losses exceeding hundreds of thousands of dollars. “They can call 50 people who say pound sand and hang up, and then one person pays them, and they make more out of that person than they would at a regular company or if they worked for a month somewhere else,” Sellers said . So if something goes wrong, hang up. And you can always call for confirmation. “Especially if they say they’re Captain Eric Sellers, call me back,” Sellers said. Sellers said other scams — like unexpected text messages asking for money — are usually scams, too. You may have received a Tuesday from the Nebraska Department of Transportation about an unpaid toll fine, but NDOT said it would not seek money that way and Nebraska has no way no toll roads. Click here for the latest headlines from KETV NewsWatch 7

DOUGLAS COUNTY, Ontario —

A familiar scam is resurfacing around the metro, and the Douglas County Sheriff's Office wants you to be aware of it.

They said the best thing to do is to hang up if something goes wrong.

MEPs add that technology makes it difficult to track down fraudsters.

But the losses are enormous for some, and it's not hard to believe the caller.

“Someone will call and say it is, in this case, Captain Eric Sellers of the Douglas County Sheriff's Office,” said Captain Eric Sellers of the DCSO.

But ask Captain Sellers and he can almost assure you it wasn't really him on the other end of the line.

“No, I haven’t called you, but if it will make you feel better, definitely call me,” Sellers said.

This is a scam that targets the metro area: someone spoofs the sheriff's office phone number, chooses a name from the website and makes the call.

“Usually they come from out of state, sometimes out of the country, and they look convincing. They'll spoof our numbers. It looks like one of our official numbers, and they'll ask for money,” said Sellers.

Then they will ask you to pay it at an ATM or Bitcoin machine.

But Sellers said all of this should be a wake-up call.

“If someone calls and says they're with the police, the sheriff's office, and they're asking for money because you didn't fulfill your jury duty or you didn't paid a fine, just hang up,” Sellers said.

He adds that scammers are difficult to catch.

“For us, finding this figure is very, very difficult. And especially if they're out of the country, getting out of state is difficult, getting out of the country almost impossible,” Sellers said.

He said the trend is growing and affects all ages.

And Sellers said it was pretty lucrative; its investigators have reviewed 50 to 75 cases over the past several years, with losses exceeding hundreds of thousands of dollars.

“They can call 50 people and tell them to pound sand and hang up, and then one person pays them, and they make more from that person than they would in a normal business or working for a month somewhere else,” said Sellers.

So if something goes wrong, hang up.

And you can always call for confirmation.

“Especially if they say they’re Captain Eric Sellers, call me back,” Sellers said.

Sellers said other scams — like unexpected text messages asking for money — are usually scams, too.

You may have received a Tuesday from the Nebraska Department of Transportation about an unpaid toll fine, but NDOT said it would not seek money that way and Nebraska has no way no toll roads.

Click here for the latest headlines from KETV NewsWatch 7