Scam artists are calling up Lane County residents, accusing them of unpaid citations, outstanding warrants, or failing to appear for jury duty. Victims are then told they can fix things by buying gift cards.
Carrie Carver is a spokeswoman for the Lane County Sheriff’s Office. She says the scammers claim to be with her office, or the U.S. Marshal’s Office, Civil Division. She says that’s the first tip off that it’s a fake call.
“The Sheriff’s Office in particular doesn’t make phone calls to folks regarding warrants," Carver tells KLCC. "If you have a warrant, we’ll probably just show up at your door.
"Scammers tend to be extremely pushy and impatient over the phone. A lot of times they’ll give you a callback number. They’ll have a voice message machine that says, “You’ve reached the Lane County Sheriff’s Office…” What we really want people to do, is find the publicly listed number for that agency and verify that the call was legitimate.”
The scammers usually ask for $1,000 - 3,000 worth of gift cards, which they then request the numbers from.
Carver says if the victim can’t buy that amount, the scammers then negotiate the price…something else authorities wouldn’t do in an actual call.
Two phone numbers used in the scam calls are 541-357-3302 and 541-327-9121. If you’ve lost money as a result of a scam, report it to your local law enforcement agency.
