Phone scammers using AI to pose as your local sheriff's office

INDIANAPOLIS — “This is Lt. James Perry calling with the Marion County Sheriff’s Department Civil Services division. Our facility has been required by mandate to reach out to you today regarding an issue that has occurred which demands your immediate attention."

Steven Goodroad, of Lawrence, suspected the voicemail he received might be a scam, but he wasn’t 100% sure.

The caller provided a local 317 phone number and a legitimate sounding website.

WRTV Investigates has uncovered scammers are using Artificial Intelligence, also known as AI, to generate voicemails that appear to come from your local sheriff’s office.

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WRTV shared the voicemail Goodroad received with several experts who confirmed it was AI-generated.

“It sounded very official, no stuttering around,” Goodroad said. “Very professional sounding.”

Goodroad considers himself fairly savvy when it comes to detecting scams.

“I'm retired US Army, 21 years, and now I’m a government contractor. I work on a program with the National Guard,” Goodroad said.

He thought the Marion County Sheriff’s Office might be trying to reach him about something important like the death of a loved one, so he called MCSO, which informed him it is indeed a scam making the rounds.

The Marion County Sheriff’s Office receives a dozen phone calls a day just like the one Goodroad made about the phone scam.

LISTEN: Phone scammers are using AI to pose as your local sheriff's office.

Sherrif’s offices across central Indiana are posting warnings on social media about phone scammers posing as their employees, including Hancock County , Grant County and Delaware County .

Goodroad asked WRTV Investigates to look into it, and we did some checking.

WRTV Investigates called the 317 number left on the voicemail and no one answered.

The website was bogus and ended in “.org” rather than “.gov,” which is used for official government organizations.

WRTV Investigates also contacted the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, and a spokesperson confirmed they do not have a Lt. James Perry working there nor do they have a 317 number matching the one in the voicemail.

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WRTV Investigates took it a step further and shared the voicemail with the Identity Theft Resource Center, a national nonprofit aimed at preventing identity theft and fraud.

“We all listened to it and we all went, ‘that's AI generated,’” ITRC CEO Eva Velasquez said.

That’s right — Artificial Intelligence or AI.

Scammers are using it to create messages that sound like they’re from your local law enforcement agency.

“The capability to do those things very easily, efficiently and very cheaply exists,” Velasquez said. “It really does allow the fraudsters to create the scripts and it's going to sound very professional, there won't be stuttering. It's going to sound much more convincing, and they don't require someone with that particular voice type. They can just generate it."

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Velasquez said scammers know consumers are getting more savvy, and are less likely to fall for demands for payment or overly-general messages.

That’s why you’re seeing scammers use the names of specific law enforcement agencies.

“I think the scammers are doing a lot of segmentation by area code,” Velasquez said.

WRTV Investigates also shared the voicemail with the Federal Trade Commission.

“Scammers are trying to look as legit as possible and that's how they're going to get your money or your personal information," Dotan Weinman, Asst. Director at FTC’s Division of Marketing Practices, said.

So far this year, the FTC has received 437 reports of police, sheriff or FBI imposter scams, totaling $4.63 million losses with a median loss to the consumer of $3,300.

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WRTV Investigates asked the FTC what they’re doing about this problem.

“Unfortunately, it's so pervasive and it's so easy to execute these scams, especially from abroad, which really limits the ability of the government,” Weinman said. “We can't be all over the world."

Scammers are generating a massive amounts of calls, according to the FTC.

“We are talking about millions and sometimes billions of calls and that’s the scale of these scams, they’re sending out millions and billions of scams with the hope that you will fall for it,” Weinman said.

Weinman said education is still the best way to protect people.

Goodroad says more needs to be done.

"I think we need a bigger, better approach to let people know what's coming their way,” Goodroad said. “Everyday I turn around and some new scam is coming my way.”

TIPS TO PROTECT YOURSELF

• Never call back the number that called you
• Do a separate internet search for the agency’s actual phone number
• Call the agency and ask if the voicemail you received is legitimate
• Remember government imposter scammers will pose as:

1. Law enforcement
2. FBI
3. Social Security Administration
4. Internal Revenue Service
5. Federal Trade Commission
   

The Marion County Sheriff’s Office reminds people it will never call people about jury duty or outstanding criminal warrants.
“The only time the MCSO may reach out over the phone is to collect payment for outstanding tax balances,” MCSO Spokesperson Katie Stanley said in an email to WRTV. “However, we would never request payment in the form of gift cards or cryptocurrency and do not request money over the phone. Taxpayers are told to send check/money order or are encouraged to pay via the website govpaynow.”

The vast majority of our communications are done via the postal service, said Stanley.