Ada County Sheriff’s Office deputies will never call and threaten to arrest you because you have an outstanding arrest warrant — or missed jury duty — or have a tax bill due — or anything like that.
Deputies will also never ask you to place funds for payment on a pre-paid credit card to “cancel the arrest warrant,” or to pay a phony federal tax bill, or some other made-up charge.
That promise extends to everyone in Ada County.
The latest target for the scammers appears to be registered sex offenders. Our agency has been contacted by some registered sex offenders who have been called by “Sgt. Jackson” and threatened with arrest because “they missed an appointment.”
“Sgt. Jackson” then tells the people who answer that he can make the warrant go away if they go to a store, put some money on a pre-paid credit card, and then call a phone number with the card information.
The ACSO does not have a Sgt. Jackson. No appointment was missed. And anytime someone tells you to get a pre-paid credit card to take care of a fine or anything like it over the phone – it’s a scam.
We’ve had numerous reports over the last several years of scammers pretending to be ACSO deputies – including Sheriff Steve Bartlett — who use phone numbers with a 208 area code to sell the ruse.
The latest version is targeting registered sex offenders in Ada County. Previous scams have criminals calling random numbers and asking people for money to take care of fake arrest warrants. The scam can also be about missing jury duty, civil judgments, or fines.
They usually tell their victims to go to a store, get a pre-paid credit card (like a Green Dot), load it up with money, and then call a phone number with the card information.
In reality, if one of our deputies had to issue an arrest warrant or file a civil judgment, they would try to find you in person and leave cards with call-back numbers on them several times before calling – and that would be to set up a meet.
They will never ask you to wire or transfer money electronically. That is a sure sign of the scam.
The scammers get the numbers and make the calls over the internet with burner cell phones, making them very hard to trace.
The Better Business Bureau is aware of the scam and says people can protect themselves from becoming victims of identify theft by never giving out any personal information when getting an unsolicited phone call.
Giving out sensitive information over the phone — both personal and financial — can put you at risk for fraud.