ODESSA, Texas (KOSA) – In a society wary of phone scams, unknown numbers usually get ignored.
But technology gives scammers the ability to clone well-known phone numbers and exploit whoever answers.
This is happening to the Ector County Sheriff’s Office right now.
The caller ID might say Ector County Sheriff’s office when the phone rings.
But if the person on the other end of the call is asking for money…it’s probably a scam.
You get a call from who you think is the Ector County Sheriff’s Office…the caller tells you there’s a warrant out for you.
The person on the line tells you to put money on a debit card to forgive the warrant.
But here’s the kicker, it’s not the Ector County Sheriff’s Office.
“Law enforcement agencies do not call you and say you have a “warrant you better send us some money”. We don’t do that. If you have a warrant, we’re going to give you personalized service and come to your house or find you on the road,” said Ector County Sheriff Mike Griffis.
Scammers are cloning the sheriff’s office number and pretending to be associated with the agency to trick people.
Sheriff Griffis says if this happens to you hang up immediately and report the incident to ECSO.
It’s nearly impossible to find and punish the people the responsible for the money theft.
Sheriff Griffis says he’d like them to be punished harshly for stealing people’s hard earned money.
The Ector County Sheriff’s office says the impersonation scams happen to more people than they know about.
Only 10 percent of the scam calls are reported to the sheriff’s office.
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