There have been three reports of different SCAMS this week. They are as follows:
1. A citizen received a call from a person stating that his name was Captain Robert Dunn with the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office. (False) The caller stated that he had a warrant for the citizen because there was a subpoena issued for them to show up in court and they did not. The caller advised the citizen to go get three (3) – $500 gift cards from Stripes or Wal-Mart to be used as a bond so that the citizen would not have to go to jail. The citizen was told to “stay on the line with him”. Luckily the citizen came to the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office to make sure that he was supposed to do what he was told. The citizen talked to a person that knew what Captain Dunn’s voice sounded like and the caller was NOT him. (NOTE: [briefly] if you are served with a subpoena you will know it. If you are served you will have paperwork to prove it. If the officer is not able to serve you the paperwork will be turned back in. In the event you are served and you do not show up the Judge may issue a Writ of Attachment [an officer would “attach” you to them and take you to see the Judge. IF a warrant were ever issued you would use an approved Liberty County Bonding Company to get the bond. You would NEVER be asked to get gift cards!!!!!!)
2. A local resident got a text message from a person he did not know. The message read; “How are you doing? This is Andrea”. He did not respond because he did not know anyone by the name. A little bit later he got another text just like the first one. This time he responded: “Andrea who are you?” He got a text back that said that she was a 15 year old that wanted a relationship. He responded that he did not know her and told her to leave him alone. The resident then got a phone call from a person claiming to be her father. That person told the resident that he was filing on him for sexual assault and that he had to take his daughter to a doctor and the bill was $2700. The resident hung up on the person. The resident then got a phone call from a person claiming to be an investigator with the Woodlands Police Department. The investigator told the resident that he had a warrant for his arrest and that he needed to get with the father to work something out. If they did work something out that he would not serve the warrant. The father demanded gift cards. (There is not a Woodlands PD. The LCSO called both numbers that were used and the person would not accept the call. I would hope that the law enforcement officer would serve the warrant and then let the court work out an agreement. Again, agencies would NOT request gift cards.)
3. The relative in an accident scam hit again. The caller stated that he was a nephew and needed $1000 to get out of jail. He was in jail because he did not have insurance. Once again, gift cards were requested.
Please, please, please beware of all types of scams. Please advise both the elderly and the young people. FYI, #1 was a businessman, #2 was a young man and #3 was an elderly female. Crime is not a respecter of persons. They will go after anyone…everyone. Here are the numbers that the LCSO was given that were used by the scammers:
936-261-7117
346-917-1437
832-917-7030
Thank you,
Bobby Rader – Sheriff
