No That Really Wasn’t The Sheriff’s Office Calling You
In a post to their Facebook page yesterday the Dakota County Sheriff's Office is letting residents know that they are NOT calling residents about warrants. It's a popular scam that is back in the area with the Scott County Sheriff's Office warning residents of the same type of phone call scam.
If you are unfamiliar with the scam it goes like this. You get a phone call from what your caller ID shows as the Dakota County Sheriff's Office, or any other local law enforcement agency. When you answer the person on the other end tells you that they were contacting you about an active warrant after you failed to show up for jury duty, or unpaid tickets/fines, etc. Luckily you can "clear this warrant" by "paying your bail" over the phone with gift cards.
Both Sheriff's Offices are letting residents know that surprisingly they don't take iTunes gift cards for bail, or call you over warrants. Generally, they come to your residence and arrest you over the warrant, you see a judge and either have your bail set or are released until your court date.
In the case of the Dakota County phone calls, residents are getting a call from “Dakota County Lieutenant Ryan Steinson”. “Steinson” tells them they were sent a summons to report for jury duty, did not show and are now in contempt of court with an active warrant. They are told to clear the warrant they need to pay a bail of $2,000.
Other popular scams out there right now are companies calling you to claim that you've overpaid a bill and they are sending you a check, only to call you later and ask for you to send them money as they accidentally sent you a larger refund then you are entitled to. Of course, the check won't clear once it gets deposited in your account and your out the money you paid them.
As we get closer to the holiday season, make sure you check on your elderly relatives/neighbors as they are most commonly the ones who fall for these scam phone calls.