Pinellas Residents Getting Conned Out Of Money In Phone Scam

PINELLAS COUNTY, FL – Here’s the scam: A man calls you and tells you he’s with the sheriff’s office. He tells you he has a warrant for your arrest for missing jury duty. Then he tells you to pay up or you’ll be arrested.

That’s the call a Palm Harbor resident reported to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office.

Some of these scam artists ask for gift cards or pre-paid debit cards, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Sgt. Spencer Gross.

“We see these scams all of the time,” Gross said. “It may be jury duty, the IRS, Duke Energy or TECO. They make it seem legit. The phone numbers they call from make it look like it’s the real deal. The crooks even use the real names of detectives, captains or lieutenants at the sheriff’s office.”

But don’t be fooled, he said.

The sheriff’s office, IRS or power company will never do this, he said.

“We're never gonna call any citizen requesting money over the telephone,” Gross said. “We're not gonna ask citizens to go out and purchase pre-paid debit cards or gift cards.”

Not everyone falls for the scam, said Gross. But as long as one person bites, the con artists will keep doing it.

“They're gonna make 100 phone calls and, out of that 100 phone calls, they might scam two or three people,” Gross said.

His advice?

“Hang up immediately,” he said. “Anyone asking you to purchase a debit card, gift card or voucher is scamming you.”

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