SCAMS Continue, Please Don’t Let Criminals Intimidate You into Giving Them Money or Personal Information
The Spokane County Sheriff’s Office and Spokane Valley Police Department continue to receive reports of scammers impersonating law enforcement as they try to scare and intimidate potential victims into giving up their money or personal information.
Please know that we, law enforcement or any government agency, will not call or email you and demand immediate payment under threat of arrest or other penalty. Always look up the phone number of the agency the caller claims to represent and call that number to verify the legitimacy of any person demanding payment or personnel/banking information.
The Spokane County Sheriff’s Office and Spokane Valley Police continue to receive complaints regarding callers claiming to be employees of our agencies. The callers claim that there is some emergency legal situation (legal documents, missed jury duty, etc.) and demand an immediate call back to discuss this fictitious problem. When the person (potential victim) calls the impersonator back at the phone number they provide, the impersonator uses threats and intimidation to attempt to get the potential victim to IMMEDIATELY pay “fines” using prepaid credit cards, cryptocurrency, or some other unusual form of payment.
This is a SCAM! Please do not fall for it! If you do, you will probably lose all or most of the money you paid! Most of these scam calls originate from outside the United States, making the recovery of funds and prosecuting these criminals difficult or impossible.
Recently, as in the attached example, the scammer claims to be Sergeant Karnitz (voicemail translation in the example is incorrect) and spoofs the Sheriff’s Office’s main phone number. The criminal impersonator then demands an “immediate call back” at a phone number he provides (this example is 509-204-9430). Although the voicemail translations are often incorrect, notice the words used, such as “field device,” “important legal documents,” and the use of the word “immediate” twice, and then ask yourself, who uses the words “field device”? Also, notice that the rest of the message is designed to cause fear or intimidate you into calling the scammer at the number he wants instead of the Sheriff’s Office front desk number the call appears to originate from. These are all indications that this is a scam call!
We have also received reports of a caller claiming to be Sergent Benner with the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office. The criminal impersonator claims he has “important” civil paperwork and needs an “immediate” call back at 509-345-8383. This is also a scam, and when confronted, the scammer became irate and began using profane and racist language.
Again, if you aren’t sure if a call you received is a scam or not, please spend a little time and look up the agency’s phone number on the internet and call the phone number that you verified, not the phone number the scammer provides.
Remember, law enforcement or any government agency will not call or email you and demand immediate payment under threat of arrest or other penalty.
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This Spokane County Sheriff Office news article "SCAMS Continue, Please Don’t Let Criminals Intimidate You into Giving Them Money or Personal Info" was originally found on https://www.spokanecounty.org/CivicAlerts.aspx?CID=7