So I feel the need to alert others… Today I received a call from my local sheriff’s office. He identified himself as a deputy with a warrant for my arrest due to my notarization that turned into mail fraud.
Sounded legit and he gave me the citation numbers, bench warrant number, etc. He told me I failed to appear in court and a warrant was issued so I had two choices; 1. Turn myself in for a 72-hour jail hold or 2. pay a civil fine…That’s when I asked him for a number to call him back. He said he couldn’t provide it and if I hung up deputies would be dispatched to my home address to arrest me. I hung up called back the number that was on the caller ID and it was in fact the Sheriff’s Office however, the deputy who answered my call said it was a scam!!! The caller knew my address as well as my mailing address. Scary!! Stay ALERT!!! Trust your instincts!
Scary situation… similar happened to me less than a year ago. Someone called me saying it was PSE&G, my electric company, and that I had a shut off service if I wouldn’t pay certain amount of dollars. The idiot in the line forgot to check my account because I even had a credit for overpaying 
it is said people would stoop to that level of fraud!! Thank you for sharing.
Oh wow! Thanks for sharing the knowledge…will def keep my ears on alert!!
Same for me here in Oregon. He called twice within 3 weeks. Only I had an actual officer call him back and identify himself. And of course he hung up.
I had an individual call me and say he was a sergeant at a local police department. He used a spoofing app which showed he was calling from the local dept (which he wasn’t). Long story short he told me I had a warrant I told him I didn’t care. I called his bluff and he said a couple choice words to me and said he’d “send his boys to come kill me”. Anyhow I called the police dept, verified there wasn’t a sergeant with the name. You can always call the state line to find out if you have a warrants so I know he was full of it. I made a police report because I know this guy was going down the secretary or state notary list. He had called my friend right before me. Her name is almost like mine. I gave the PD a heads up because most police dispatchers are notaries. I hate that all our info is available to anyone on the SOS site. Be safe out there!
Horrible those spoofing apps should be outlawed!!! The used my county sheriff’s number so it appeared real! Our info should be private on SOS.
Easy pickings for scammers, right off the Secretary of State website.
For a list of notaries public who hold active notary public commissions simply download this compressed file (ZIP). After decompressing the file, the file can be opened with any text editor. However, for optimum utility, import the active-notary.txt file into a database to permit better searching and sorting capability, since the number of records exceeds the maximum record limit for most spreadsheet programs.
The active-notary.txt file, which is updated each business day, includes:
- Notary public name (last name and name suffix, first name, and middle name);
- Business name (if the notary public is self-employed, the business name field will be blank);
- Business mailing address;
- Filing county code number (county where the oath of office and bond are on file) (PDF);
- Commission number; and
- Commission expiration date.
I would guess that if there is a warrant out for you, the sheriffs usually show up on your doorstep, they don’t call you right? That’s how I would know it’s a scam.
Thank you for that information. If there is a warrant out for you the Sheriffs will never call you. They will show up.
Thank you for this information. I would be worried if I had received the call as well. You did the right thing by calling back.
Very similar situation happened to me a couple months ago. The call was alerting me that I had not shown up for jury duty and a warrant would be issued for my arrest. It startled me until figured out it was not legit.
Just this pass July this also happened to me. However it was inmates in Mississippi that had gotten ahold of my info and my parents info. They tried to say I had a warrant for missing court. They had the names of police officers, court judges and more.
Anyhow the detective said that this has been going pin since last year and the state of Mississippi does not want to address the issue and they also knew who the inmates are.
Horrible we have to experience these things!
Yes, very horrible. Even sadder is it’s not on the news or being told about in our community. We must care for and look out for one another. Thank you for writing about this.
Just had the same thing about 2 months ago, they were good…They talked the talk, used names that were similar to the actual deputies. I connected the call to the local sheriff’s office and let them talk directly to a deputy (they used not so nice words and hung up).
I received the same scam call allegedly from the San Francisco Sheriff Dept. in May or June. I knew it was a scam, so I stayed on the call long enough to get all the details to report it. The scammers tell you your fine or bail must be paid with those prepaid debit cards. They also have answers for everything as in don’t bring your attorney, as there is a “gag order.” If it turns out there is a mistake the Judge will immediately issue you a “certified check.” Once I had all the details, I hung up and called the SF Sheriff’s Dept and the Federal Trade Commission.
The specific reason I’m adding these comments to the post is that just today I received another one of those calls. As soon as they said they were from the Alameda County Sheriff Dept I immediately told them I wasn’t in the mood for their scam and hung up. So please remain vigilant and report these calls to the FTC at the following link.
[https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/#crnt&panel1-1]
The FTC website also has a section that details numerous scams to assist consumers in avoiding them. Stay safe everyone!
Today, most peoples names, numbers, address, ssn, dob etc are all available from various sources online. This is NOT scary.
What is scary is that as people get more lazy to get off their couches and turn off a light bulb and let “Alexa, turn off the light bulb” or "OK Google, Turn off the light bulb " etc… these devices listen to your most intimate and private conversations and see the data online.
So if you are talking about buying or selling a house, this data is sold to realtors willing to pay the price. OFcourse , google/amazon does NOT DIRECTLY sell , but give it to data brokers / marketing and analytics agencies.
That is scary !!
An authoritative and powerfull voice, threatening to arrest you over phone, Even I was scared for first time, However , common sense prevailed over fear and I asked him his employee ID etc, He hung up.
Next time some one calls me threatening to arrest me, he sure will have his ear drums damaged.
NO POLICE will give u a warning and enough time over phone , " Hey we will arrest you tomorrow"
Do they ?? So … What is there to be scared ???
I am on a few groups on Facebook and LinkedIn and I have similar stories. This is scary!