SALT LAKE CITY — Con artists come up with many ways to steal money from their targets, and the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office wants to alert the public about a recent scam; callers impersonating deputies demanding payments for missed court dates, warrants, or failure to report for jury duty.
Often, no such violation has even occurred, but scammers rely on the fear of violating the law to demand cash payments, prepaid debit cards, or even gift cards to avoid an "arrest."
Scammers know how to trick their targets by using "spoofing" official telephone numbers and using the actual names of law enforcement officials.
They arrange meetings in the parking lots of official buildings or accept payments, which adds to the air of legitimacy.
What Salt Lake County wants people to remember is that police agencies will never call demanding payment, and to hang up on such calls.
Fraudulent actions such as these should be reported to the Utah Division of Consumer Protection. The non-emergency number for Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office is 801-743-7000, and these calls should be reported to them as well.
