NEW — 11:45 a.m. Oct. 23, 2014
A phone scam seen throughout the nation and, more locally, at the county level, has recently targeted Newcastle residents, according to a news release from Newcastle Police Chief Melinda Irvine.
During the fraudulent call, the caller states he or she is from the King County Sheriff’s Office and goes on to report that the resident has a warrant our for his or her arrest due to a missed jury duty. Sometimes the caller says that the targeted resident’s child or grandchild is in police custody.
“The caller tells the victim that they need to either provide information or go to a store and get a Green Dot cash card, then provide that information to the caller in order to clear the warrant,” Irvine said. “They tell the victim they will be arrested and thrown in jail if they do not cooperate.”
This is a scam, Irvine said. The King County Sheriff’s Office does not call people asking for money to avoid arrest. Never release personal information over the telephone to any unknown caller.
If you receive one of these calls, hang up. If you are concerned that the call is real and that your child is truly being held and need confirmation that this is not the case, you may call the King County Sheriff’s Office non-emergency dispatch number to report the incident, 206-296-3311.
“These scammers are not as easy to catch as you may think,” Irvine said. “They use computer programs to appear they are calling from a different number and they have the return calls routed to their number, so your calls go to an untraceable number.”