Boone County sheriff’s deputies continue to warn about an uptick in telephone scams from scammers who claim to work for the sheriff’s department.
Boone County Sheriff’s Captain Brian Leer says a few people have fallen victim to the scams in recent weeks. Captain Leer tells 939 the Eagle that the calls make it look like they are from the Boone County Sheriff’s office and that the scammers use real names of personnel there. Leer says the callers tell people they’ve missed court and need to pay in crypto currency:
“They want to have them pay in crypto currency because it’s hard to track. A lot of times it goes oversees. And it just makes it even harder to investigate. Other things are gift cards, they’ll have them go buy gift cards and provide that way,” Captain Leer says.
Captain Leer reminds you that law enforcement agencies will never call you and solicit payment for court-related matters over the phone. He tells 939 the Eagle that the scammers often tell the victim that they’ve missed a court appearance and that a judge has issued a gag order in their case:
“They use real judges’ names. They use real federal magistrate names. And they say there’s a gag order in place. And if you text anybody, you call anybody, you talk to anybody about this phone conversation or this case, you’re going to face this many years in prison,” Captain Leer.
He says some victims have gone to their bank and withdrawn money while remaining on the phone with the scammers. If this has happened to you, you’re urged to call the Boone County Sheriff’s Department at (573) 875-1111. You can find a link to the Sheriff’s Facebook page here.