Sophisticated scam surfaces

New Kent Sheriff’s Office is warning area residents to beware of a sophisticated telephone scam that surfaced March 10.

The caller claims to be with the sheriff’s office and has somehow managed to manipulate caller ID so that the sheriff’s office non-emergency number shows up on the victim’s phone.

According to Chief Deputy Joe McLaughlin, a New Kent resident reported receiving such a call.

The computer generated number showed up on the victim’s caller ID as (804) 966-9500, which is the non-emergency number for the New Kent Sheriff’s Office. The process of generating false caller ID information is known as “spoofing” and computer programming exists to accomplish such a task, McLaughlin said.

The female caller told the victim that he was wanted and claimed to be with the New Kent Sheriff’s Office. The caller then told the victim there was a warrant out for his arrest and even provided him with a case number.

The victim asked what the warrant was for and the caller advised that she could not say. She did provide him with a phone number that he could call to get the situation rectified.

The phone number she provided started with a 713 area code (713 is part of Houston, Texas). The victim called the number and spoke with a male subject who claimed that he was an attorney representing a firm called U.S. Financial Resources.

According to male suspect, an arrest warrant was going to be issued soon against the victim. The male suspect stated that the victim would be arrested by the New Kent Sheriff’s Office.

The male suspect then advised the victim that his arrest would ultimately cost him about $4,000, but that he could avoid that total and settle his case by paying $900 over the phone.

The male suspect continued to say that he was with U.S. Financial Resources and would not answer any other questions. The intended victim abruptly ended the call and did not send money.

“I think he realized it was not an accurate depiction of what was going on and hung up and called us,” McLaughlin said.

The chief deputy said the matter described by the caller is not routinely a criminal matter and would be initially handled as a civil matter, therefore a criminal arrest warrant would not have been issued.

The New Kent Sheriff’s Office does not contact wanted persons through a third party in this manner, and the sheriff’s office does not get involved in settling civil matters of this type, he said.

The case remains under investigation. Anyone with similar situations should not give out any personal or banking information or forward any money. They should attempt to get as much information as possible from the caller and then contact their local law enforcement (966-9500).