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OKEECHOBEE — An Okeechobee man was scammed out of $1,600 by men claiming to be from the sheriff’s office.
According to the incident report, the victim went to the sheriff’s office to report a suspicious phone call he received on Aug. 10. Deputy Abdelquader spoke to the man. The man told him he received a phone call shortly after noon from two men claiming to be from the OCSO. One called himself Captain Davis. The second man claimed to be a sergeant. They told the victim that he had two warrants for his arrest. Both of them were due to missing court dates. They told him if he did not pay, he would be arrested. In addition, they said he had to pay on the phone because if he went to the sheriff’s office in person, they would have no choice but to arrest him. In addition, they said he could not hang up the phone or tell anyone about the call. They told him the bond was $2,000. When he told them he only had $1,600, they agreed to lower the amount of the bond. He was told to go to CVS and then to Walgreens. At each store, he was to scan two barcodes for $400 each. After he finished this, he was told to go to the sheriff’s office so they could collect his DNA.
Deputy Abdelquader explained to the man that the sheriff’s office never calls and informs people of warrants or any type of personal information over the phone.
There were several red flags in this encounter.
Unfortunately, the man is unlikely to ever get this money back. Stay alert. If any of these red flags come up, hang up and call the law or a trusted friend.
To read more about common scams and frauds, visit FBI.gov at FBI about scams
