Once again, phone scammers are claiming to be members of TCSO while targeting potential victims. Over the weekend, we received calls from at least eight people who say they were targeted, one of whom fell victim to the scam and lost $3,000.
The caller tells people they have a warrant for their arrest for failing to appear for a jury summons. They tell the person they must immediately pay hundreds, even thousands of dollars in fines to avoid being arrested by the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office.
In this version of the scam, the crook claims to be Sgt. Paul Huss or Sgt. Lewis from TCSO. The phone number currently being used is 918-376-5529, but this number can change without notice.
In previous versions of the scam, the crook instructed the victim to purchase pre-paid cash cards and use them to “pay the bond” to avoid being arrested. They order the victim to remain on the phone with them while purchasing the cards. As soon the victim buys the cards and provides the card numbers over the phone, the money is stolen by the crook.
However, in this latest scam, the victim was instructed to go to a Bitcoin Kiosk where we inserted $3,000 and sent it to the scammer.
We urge people to remember that TCSO will never call anyone with warrants to demand payment over the phone… and certainly not through the use of gifts cards or crypto currency!
If you receive one of these calls, hang up. If you are a victim of this scam, call us at 918-596-5600 to file a report.
Anyone can check our website to see if they have active Tulsa County warrants by using this link: tcsook.glyphreports.com
