Special to Lake Okeechobee News
MARTIN COUNTY — Martin County Sheriff's Office continues to receive information that scammers are once again calling citizens, claiming they have outstanding warrants for their arrest.
The scammers allege that they are from either the Martin or Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office. These con artists are very aggressive and convincing, which may make it difficult for citizens to understand or navigate through the situation.
The callers are demanding payment in the form of Bitcoin or, in some cases, gold bars to clear the warrant. They claim that if payment is not made, they will physically come to arrest the individual. THIS IS A SCAM targeting our elderly citizens. Unfortunately, we have already seen the first monetary loss of over $1,000 this morning.
We urge everyone to reach out to your family, friends, neighbors, and colleagues to warn them about this scam. Any business associated with or serving our senior population is asked to please pass along these alerts to your customers or clients.
The Martin County Sheriff's Office is working diligently to educate everyone about the methods of operation used by these criminal networks and to halt any further monetary losses for our citizens.
The Martin County Sheriff's Office will never call you and demand money to clear any warrant, ticket, or violation, especially by demanding you pay cash, or in the form of Bitcoin, other cryptocurrency, or gold bars. Never.
