Sheriff warns of scam

Seneca County Sheriff Fred Stevens has warned the public of scam calls. The sheriff shared that the office has received "a dozen or so" reports of scam calls in which a person is claiming to be from the sheriff's office, Tiffin Police Department or calling on behalf of a law enforcement organization for a donation. However, Stevens said that many more people reached out to the office to report they received a phone call and believed it was a scam. "Typically, it is someone saying they are from our office, the PD or calling on the behalf of a law enforcement organization for a donation," he explained. "The scam can take the shape of threatening to arrest someone for a warrant or for outstanding fines on a citation, asking for a donation or play on the fears of the elderly by saying their grandchild is in jail and needs bond or bail money immediately." One of the phone numbers being used is 419-318-6113. The number does have a voicemail set up in which the person states that he is a sergeant with the Seneca County Sheriff's Office. If you receive a call like this, the sheriff says the first thing to do is hang up the call. If you are worried that you owe money to the court, police department, or sheriff's office, call and speak directly to that agency without calling any of the numbers the scam caller gave to you or the number they called you from. Instead, look for the agency number on the internet to get the direct number. If someone does have an active warrant, the office goes out and finds the person. "We may call someone to get information on whereabouts or to let someone know they have a summons but will never ask for money or tell someone to get a gift card or visa card and load it up with money to pay off someone's warrant or fine," Stevens said. The county can charge and prosecute a scam caller; however, it can only do so if the caller can be tracked down. "Almost 99.9% of scammers cannot be located due to the methods they utilize and most are from foreign countries and once you move money to them via a gift card or money order or bank check or give them access to your bank account, we cannot recover it and the bank will not refund you that money either." Stevens shared that the sheriff's office has investigated some scam calls and was able to recover some money before it was "lost for good." "It is hit or miss due to the various methods the scammers use," he said. "It takes a lot of time to investigate them and usually ends up in dead ends and money lost. Please educate yourself on the methods being utilized to scam not only you but your parents and grandparents. Typically, they prey on the elderly." The sheriff's office may call you if you have a summons or if it is trying to locate someone, however, Stevens said that in most cases law enforcement will come to you. "If you do receive a call from someone claiming to be a SCSO (Seneca County Sheriff's Office) employee, please ask for their name and rank and tell them you will get back with them and hang up and look up our non-emergency number on the internet (419-447-3456) and call dispatch and ask for that person," Stevens directed. "The last two scams we had using a name and rank from our office we had no one of that name working here. Be careful, as they will look up our annual reports and other information on the internet and actually use the rank and name of a current employee. Bottom line is that no law enforcement agency will ask for money over the phone. If you were calling about bond or bail info on a warrant, we would tell you how much to bond or bail out but would not try to collect it over the phone through a gift card or money card." Due to spoofing software, it is difficult to determine if a call is coming from a law enforcement agency because scammers can make it look like they are calling from an agency's phone number. The sheriff's best advice is to listen to who is calling you and what they are calling about. If a caller asks you for money, hang up. If the person says they are a deputy or dispatcher and need to speak with you about a case and you believe it to be a scam, get their rank and name, then tell them you will call them back. Hang up and call the agency's main phone number and ask for an employee by rank and name. If you suspect these scammers have contacted you, have concerns, or have given any personal information, money, or gift cards, please get in touch with the Seneca County Sheriff's Office dispatch center at 419-447-3456 option #4 to speak with a dispatcher.