Virginia State Police is highlighting an interesting new fraud game making the rounds right now – targeting registered sex offenders.
According to VSP, callers have been contacting registered sex offenders to tell them that if they don’t provide a cash payment, they will send someone to arrest them.
The calls are being made to the offender’s places of work, as well as the offender themselves, according to a press release from the State Police.
In several instances, the caller leaves an officer’s name and phone number for the offender to call.
The fraud involves the use of spoof numbers that lead the victims to believe the calls originate from a police department.
The scheme has the victim meet at a location close to the PD, or there is an offer to come by to pick up the payment.
The thrust of the message from the Virginia State Police: the VSP manages the Sex Offender Registry, and no police agency takes payments from offenders to stay out of jail.
Anyone telling you to provide money to stay out of jail is a scammer, basically.
The advice: if you receive a call of this nature, hang up and contact the agency directly without using the number they called from.
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Chris Graham
