HAMILTON, Ohio -- A scammer is now using the names of actual deputies in an attempt to dupe people out of their money, Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones warned Tuesday.
A victim reported that someone called him using the name "Major Mike Craft" with the Butler County Sheriff's Office, claiming the man had an active warrant for missing jury duty.
Scammers tell victims to purchase Green Dot cards from a local store and read the numbers off the car to them over the phone, authorities said in a news release. The scammers are often not even in the U.S., but they can find the names and titles of law enforcement officers online. They can also "spoof" a phone number to make it appear to be a local call or a call from an actual police agency.
"In this recent incident, the scammer's phone number appeared to come from here at the sheriff's office," Jones said. "With growing technology, this is becoming common and unfortunately people fall for it."
Real law enforcement agencies never ask for money by phone, Jones said. Anyone who received a phone call asking for money from anyone claiming to be an employee of a law enforcement agency should know it's a scam and report it to real authorities.
