It's Back: Phony Police Phone Scam Threatens 'Pay Up or Be Arrested'

Following a brief hiatus, scam phone calls from people posing as Gwinnett County police officers are back on the rise.

“After several months with no reports of this nature, we have received 14 such reports over the past two weeks,” Gwinnett Sheriff’s public information officer Shannon Volkadav said in a Wednesday afternoon email. “Three of the victims paid the suspect $1,000 each and a fourth victim paid $2,000.”

The sheriff’s office wants you to know:

“It is very important that citizens are aware that no local, state or federal law enforcement agency will contact them by phone to request payment over the phone. Calls of this nature should be considered suspicious and they should not follow instructions to make a payment over the phone.”

The scam is a common one, police say.

In this one, someone pretending to be “Sgt. Boyd” or “Detective Boyd” with the Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office threatens the victim with arrest for failing to answer a jury or court summons.

To avoid arrest, the victims are instructed to buy reloadable debit cards — usually at a Kroger or Food Lion — to pay a “fine.” Once the cards are purchased, the caller asks for the account numbers on the back.

When the numbers are provided to the caller, the scam is complete. The caller usually keeps the victim on the line for two hours or more, and tells them they need to take proof of the debit card purchase to authorities.

“These callers are very skilled, making them very convincing,” Volkadav said. “They usually have extensive knowledge of the law enforcement agency they are impersonating and often provide a phone number where they can be reached. They often use the names of staff members who actually work for the agency they are impersonating.”

If you have received a suspected scamp phone, you are encouraged to document the caller’s name and the originating phone number and to file a report with police. In Gwinnett County, victims may contact GCSO Investigative Services Unit at 770-619-6655.