PANAMA CITY — Authorities are asking for the public’s vigilance after receiving several reports of scammers threatening people with jail time if they don’t pay up, according to a Bay County Sheriff’s Office news release.
Two different versions of the scam, one involving jury duty and one involving IRS collections, have emerged in Bay County. Both are derivatives of what officials call “Nigerian scams,” BCSO reported. And neither is characteristic of IRS or BCSO tactics.
“We would never call someone to announce a warrant,” said BCSO Maj. Tommy Ford. “The only way to satisfy an arrest warrant is to turn yourself in to us or we come to you.”
In the jury duty scam, the victim will receive a call from an individual claiming to be with a law enforcement agency, advising that the victim has missed jury duty. The suspect will tell the victim that a warrant has been issued for their arrest and that they must make a payment to avoid arrest. In the most recent cases, the suspect stated they were from the Bay County Sheriff’s Office.
The IRS scam involves the suspect telling the victim that they owe money to the IRS for taxes and will be arrested if they don’t make an immediate payment.
In both of these scams, the suspect will tell the victim to wire transfer the money, or to purchase money cards and provide the suspect with the card numbers. Many times these calls will be received from what appears to be an 850 area code number; however, the scammers are usually calling from out of the area — or even foreign countries. The disguise poses a series of problems to law enforcement, BCSO reported.
“It’s very difficult for us to trace where the numbers come from,” Ford said. “Since many of these operations are based overseas, we lack jurisdiction to prosecute even if we could locate them.”
BCSO suggested residents protect themselves by becoming familiar with the standard procedures of local law enforcement and the IRS, which does not issue arrest warrants. In order to protect yourself from these scams, it is important to note that law enforcement will not call you and ask for you to wire money in cases where an arrest warrant is issued.
“Be vigilant, be alert and ask questions,” Ford added. “Call the Sheriff’s Office if something seems suspicious.”