Watch out for this Christian Co. phone scam involving fake law enforcement officers

CHRISTIAN COUNTY, Ill. (WCIA) — The Christian County Sheriff’s Office is warning people of a phone scam involving fake officers.

The department got wind of the scam Wednesday morning after 20 people from the community called the department confused. Somebody used a fake name and pretended to be a department officer named “Michael Thomas.” The caller used the same phone number as the department and asked people to pay money to clear up a “warrant.”

Officials said incidents like this are often difficult to investigate.

“It’s next to impossible for us to track this and where it’s coming from,” says Jim Baker, Christian County Chief Deputy. “So hopefully, we can get the word out to the public and they can basically take care of it on their own. With that being said, I think it’s imperative that anybody — not just Christian County — but anybody listening to this would would make sure that the elderly parents they are notified of it and make sure that not only they know that they don’t have a warrant, but that there’s a potential scam for them to be trying to have them fall victim to, paying money for other loved ones, getting out of the bonding and released from jail.”

He said so far, nobody has reported falling victim to the scam, and added that they will never call you for a warrant or fines.

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