The Vermilion Parish Sheriff’s Office says a scam is going around where scammers are posing as VPSO deputies.
VPSO says the scammer advises the victim, who may be a sex offender, that they are an employee of the Sheriff’s Office and that the Sheriff’s Office has a warrant for their arrest for failing to update their registration.
The victim is then advised that the warrant could be paid through the website site “Jpay”.
VPSO says the victim is then instructed to purchase gift cards and send the money through Jpay. The scammer stays on the phone with the victim while the victim is purchasing the gift cards and immediately calls back if they got disconnected.
Once the cards are purchased, a female gets on the phone to receive the numbers off the cards. Once completed, the victim is then told that a state warrant for Failure to Appear is also on file and that needs to be taken care of.
Knowing that the victim had already gone to different stores to get gift cards, the scammer then urges the victim to use the Bitcoin machine in Delcambre, LA.
VPSO says that although the scammers are good at what they do, NO law enforcement agency uses Bitcoins, therefore NO law enforcement will advise you to deposit money into a Bitcoin machine. Nor will any law enforcement agency advise you to get gift cards to pay a fine or warrant.
"Be safe and vigilant and DO NOT ever give out any of your personal information, such as Social Security Number or Banking Account information, to anyone through email, social media, or over the phone," they say.
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