Law enforcement often warns the public when new scams are on the rise.
But usually those cons don’t involve their own departments.
That’s the situation, however, in which San Joaquin County Sheriff Patrick Withrow finds himself. His office has been made an unwitting accomplice in a scam involving the county jail. And he used his monthly video message to explain it.
Withrow said the perpetrators are calling people and claiming to be law enforcement officials. They introduce themselves over the phone as officers, sergeants, lieutenants or the like. The caller then informs the person on the other end of the line that a friend or relative is in jail and they need to send money to bail them out.
In actuality, the friend or loved one isn’t in lockup. Rather, it’s a ruse to swindle people out of cash.
“It’s happening all up and down the state,” Withrow said. Nationally, too.
Withrow said the fraudsters have apparently been culling names from a list of people arrested in the last 24 hours that the Sheriff’s Office has been making public on the jail’s website.
As a result, Withrow said the list of arrestees is being taken off the website. Instead, anyone wanting to know whether a loved one has been arrested will need to plug their name into the jail database.
“We’re not just going to leave a big list up because these guys see a name on that list. And then they go on that person’s social media (to) find out who their friends and family are. And then they call those people and try to get them to send money,” Withrow explained.
“Some people have fallen for it,” he said.