ALLENTOWN, Pa. — The Lehigh County Sheriff’s Office is sounding the alarm on familiar scams, warning the public needs to be “extremely cautious” as the scams and the scammers become more sophisticated.
In a bulletin Wednesday, the sheriff’s office said it has experienced a “chronic increase” in phone scams, at times rising to several per day.
“There are variations of these telephone scams, but the most prominent are telling the potential victim they have missed jury duty, have an outstanding subpoena to which they did not respond or have failed to appear in a court case.”Lehigh County Sheriff Joe Hanna
“It is not specific to the Lehigh County Sheriff’s Office, but is being realized by Sheriff’s Offices across the Commonwealth,” the warning said.
Those scams are familiar, in that residents get phone calls from bad actors impersonating deputies, detectives or members of the sheriff’s office.
But the new scam artists are using confidence schemes that are becoming more polished.
“There are variations of these telephone scams, but the most prominent are telling the potential victim they have missed jury duty, have an outstanding subpoena to which they did not respond or have failed to appear in a court case,” Lehigh County Sheriff Joe Hanna said.
Real names, fake phone lines
More concerning, Hanna said, is that the scammers have become more savvy by researching and using the names of real deputies, and using technology that mimics government phone systems.
“They will call the potential victim and have them remain on the phone while directing them to the Lehigh County Courthouse,” Hanna said.
“While en route, they will redirect them to an ATM or financial institution, requesting they withdraw a specified amount, anywhere from hundreds to thousands of dollars to satisfy the fine. [And] they are now utilizing crypto/Bitcoin.”
“It’s important to alert the public that the Lehigh County Sheriff’s Office does not collect fines nor anything monetary in the performance of our duties."Lehigh County Sheriff Joe Hanna
Hanna warned the number that appears on the caller ID is spoofed to indicate the point of origin as the Lehigh County Sheriff’s Office.
But more alarming is the fact that the scammers have set up phone numbers with numeric prompts on callback indicating, “You have reached the Lehigh Sheriff’s Office. Press 1 for warrant division, 2 for the jail, etc."
Sheriff Hanna said in the past week, his office also has received calls from former Lehigh Valley residents now residing in Florida and New York who have received such scam calls for Lehigh County.
“It’s important to alert the public that the Lehigh County Sheriff’s Office does not collect fines nor anything monetary in the performance of our duties,” he said.
“These scammers have well-rehearsed scripts and are readily prepared to convincingly answer any question posed to them.
“The public needs to be extremely cautious of any and all phone calls of this nature as well as any calls where an exchange of money is requested or demanded.”
AG fights phone scams
State Attorneys General continue to actively fight such phone scams through large-scale actions, such as suing providers for facilitating illegal robocalls or launching initiatives to target the scammers.
This month, state Attorney General Dave Sunday announced commencement of the second phase of the national Operation Robocall Roundup, with an expansion focused on four major voice phone providers allowing illegal calls to Pennsylvanians.
“I am pleased with the work we have done so far to cut down on robocalls from reaching Pennsylvanians’ phones, but there is much more work to be done and the profiting providers must step up and be part of the solution.”Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday
“Robocalls are more than just a nuisance — they can be dangerous lures to obtain Pennsylvanians’ personal information and access to their identity and finances,” Attorney General Sunday said in a news release.
“I am pleased with the work we have done so far to cut down on robocalls from reaching Pennsylvanians’ phones, but there is much more work to be done and the profiting providers must step up and be part of the solution.”
Sunday said thus far, the Anti-Robocall Litigation Task Force saw “rapid, measurable changes” from providers, including:
- 13 companies removed from the Federal Communications Commission’s Robocall Mitigation Database, meaning no voice providers in the United States may accept their call traffic.
- 19 companies stopped appearing in traceback results, indicating the companies stopped allowing suspected illegal robocalls on their voice networks.
- At least four providers terminated contracts with high-risk customer accounts that were identified as transmitting illegal voice traffic.
The Task Force investigates and takes legal action against companies responsible for significant volumes of illegal and fraudulent robocall traffic that is routed into and across voice networks across the country.
