The King County Sheriff’s Office issued a warning about a telephone scam:

There have been a large volume of fraudulent calls that are allegedly coming from the Sheriff’s Department saying there is a warrant out for your arrest for not showing up for Jury Duty, or something about nonpayment of back taxes. This is a SCAM!

The Sheriff’s Office does not solicit for funds over the phone under any circumstances!

Criminals are now able to use false or “spoofed” numbers to make it appear that the call is coming from a Sheriff’s Office phone number, or from the Courts.

If someone contacts you and tells you there’s a warrant out for your arrest because you missed jury duty or that you owe back taxes, this is a scam! Discontinue the call and contact the King County Sheriff if you have any questions about the legitimacy of such a call.

The caller says that they are from the King County Sheriff’s Department (or from the Courts of King County) stating that because you missed jury duty there is a warrant for their arrest. This is a scam! They will tell you to pay hundreds of dollars to avoid being arrested. They use high pressure tactics and get you panicked by the way they talk to you. They are very professional sounding. Once they get you to agree to pay the money, they tell you to purchase a cash card (or have a card reloaded) from one of the well known stores (Walmart, Target, etc.). The caller will have you call them back with the special pin number on the card or keep you on the phone during the entire transaction. Within seconds these funds have been transferred into their account.

They will then tell you to go down to the King County Courthouse and sign up for jury duty and that King County will reimburse you with a cashier’s check for the amount you paid them.

The King County Sheriff’s Office or the Courts will never call you for money on a warrant or tell you in advance they are coming to arrest you.

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One reply on “SCAM ALERT: Sheriff’s Office warning residents about phone scam”

  1. Got a call this morning from Ocean Master, MA 772-210-2704. It seems I owe the IRS over $9700 and they have filed a lawsuit against me. It was entertaining to play with them for 15 minutes as if I was stupid enough to buy in to this amateur attempt of a scam.

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