Vanderburgh County Sheriff Noah Robinson is frustrated with these fraudulent phone calls.
He said one can ‘spin the dice’ to create the latest scenario convincing people to send money to criminals.
“This week, it's a police officer, and it's about jury duty, and they want money cards,” he said. “Roll the dice again. This time it's a sheriff's deputy and they're in jail, and they want bond money, and they want you to use Apple, iTunes.”
Different themes come in waves, but these calls always boil down to one thing — you need to send cash right away, for any one of these scenarios.
Robinson said while dozens are reported, there are likely many many more. He said the most recent scam he can remember is the “jury duty” scam. It involves the caller impersonating one of his deputies, accusing the victim of missing jury duty, leading to a warrant for their arrest.
The victim is even threatened that if they hang up — they’ll definitely be arrested.
“‘But if you stay on the line, then I can probably get you out of this,’” Robinson said. “Just send me X number of dollars.’ And they'll just milk them and for as long as they can keep them on the line.”
Other scenarios include a loved one who needs to be bailed out of jail. Someone will portray a “grandson,” and a different person will portray the sheriff’s deputy, or another authority figure.
They’ll ask for the money to be sent via gift cards. This victim goes to the store, buys gift cards and reads the number to the fraudsters on the phone.
Robinson said the scam calls can be so convincing, the victim can’t be disueded from buying the cards.
“It's a scam, but these people have been manipulated in many respects and bought into it,” he said. “It overrides their common sense, and in many cases, so it's almost impossible to convince them that they're being scammed.”
Sometimes victims are defrauded right in the VCSO parking lot because the caller directed them to meet there — only to claim “COVID restrictions” and require the card numbers to be taken over the phone.
Robinson said there’s not much they can do for victims — it’s a very frustrating place for law enforcement to be.
Normally with a multi-thousand-dollar theft there can be evidence, a digital or physical trail and possibly justice for the victim.
“But it seems like this kind of telephone scam is like this giant dark, black void in which they can operate with almost total impunity, and law enforcement is relatively powerless to do anything about it.”
He said these scammers can “operate with impunity” because they’re using google voice or another web-based voice service so there’s no real way to trace them. They’re likely operating overseas and wouldn’t respond to a subpoena anyway.
They also prey on the unsuspecting, whose critical faculties aren’t as strong as they used to be.
“And now, with the advent of AI technology, where you can literally impersonate people with realistic sounding voices, it is like shooting fish in a barrel, and we can't even see the gun.”
The only defense is education — making potential victims aware of the scam. “We put up signs at places where you can buy money cards to help catch someone at the last possible minute before they make this decision.”
They also shared a joint education sheet to remind everyone that the IRS, police, sheriff’s office or jail will not call individuals asking for money.
If you receive a call about a specific family member, check on their whereabouts with friends and family first and never read a card number over the phone.
If you receive such a call the sheriff’s office suggests reporting it to the local law enforcement agency.
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