Scammers pose as Lubbock police to target local businesses

LUBBOCK, Texas — The Lubbock Police Department issued an important warning about a new scam happening around town regarding local businesses.

LPD have received reports that scammers are pretending to be LPD officers, calling local businesses and asking for the exact amount of cash in their registers. These scammers are even asking employees to meet them at different locations to verify if the money is real and not counterfeit.

“That’s never something we would do,” said Brady Cross, a lieutenant with the Lubbock Police Department, regarding recent reports of a scammer posing as law enforcement.

“People were saying they were representing the Lubbock Police Department and asking business owners if they would let them know how much money they had on hand,” Cross explained. “Then, they were wanting to come and verify that the money wasn’t counterfeit.”

But it doesn’t end there.

“They were willing to meet business owners here in town to look at the currency,” Cross added. “There is a good chance it could be a local connection.”

One local small business that received a suspicious call was Thirsteas, located near 34th Street and Milwaukee Avenue.

“I talked to him and he said, ‘Hi, I’m Lieutenant whatever, with the Lubbock Sheriff’s Department,’” said Chelsea Holman, a shift lead at Thirsteas.

The strangest part, according to Holman, was how the caller seemed to know specific details about incidents at the business.

“We had two instances where the same lady had used counterfeit bills, and he was talking about those two times,” Holman said. “He knew, and I’m not really sure where he got that information, but he did.”

Holman said the caller even went as far as telling her what to do with the cash registers.

“He was asking me what pins we used to check the counterfeit bills,” she said. “Then he said there was a recall on our pins and had me take all the $20s, $10s and $5s out of both drawers, stack them, and count them for him.”

Fortunately, Holman did exactly what the Lubbock Police Department advised the public to do and called them to confirm.

“If you get a phone call that you think is suspicious, especially if they’re purporting to be law enforcement, please just hang up and call us directly,” Cross advised.

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