South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley warns the public about recurring scam telephone calls where citizens are threatened with arrest warrants or fines for failure to perform a court-ordered action.
The latest scam call was reported this week in Minnehaha County where a citizen received a call from someone identifying themselves as an officer with the Minnehaha County Sheriff’s Office. The “officer” stated the citizen had missed jury duty and now an arrest warrant had been issued in their name. The alleged officer threatened the person with a $4,500 surety. The citizen talked to the person again later but did not pay any money.
“Serving on a citizen jury is one of the most important opportunities to protect the innocent and hold the guilty accountable,” said Attorney General Jackley. “Do not fall for these scams, and if you have any questions contact either the Sheriff’s Office or the Attorney General’s Office.”
Minnehaha County Sheriff Mike Milstead said such scams don’t just center on jury duty. “What makes these calls even more devious is the person’s caller ID displayed the actual telephone number of the Minnehaha County Sheriff’s Office, and the alleged officer’s name used by the scammer was the name of an actual sheriff employee,” he said.
Here are tips from the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division on how to handle such scam calls:
*** Know that spammers can spoof the phone number they are calling from to make it appear that the call is actually coming from a law enforcement agency.
*** Be cautious about answering a call from a telephone number you don’t recognize.
*** If you receive a suspicious call, hang up and call the law enforcement agency at its official number. Do not trust the telephone number that might be provided.
*** Do not give into high pressured tactics or threats to provide money.
*** Never provide personal or financial information over the telephone.
*** Do not deposit a check and then wire money.
*** Hang up on robocalls.
*** Talk to someone you can trust before you provide money or personal information to someone who contacts you.
“The person who received this scam call did the right thing,” said Attorney General Jackley. “They took notes while talking to the scammer, researched the names and numbers provided, and then called law enforcement.”
Consumers who believe they may have been a victim of any type of scam should contact the Attorney General’s Office’s Consumer Protection Division at 1-800-300-1986 or at https://consumer.sd.gov/.