“We are warning all Georgians to be on the lookout for phone scams, and in particular, those facilitated by prison gangs and incarcerated con-men looking to cheat honest people out of their hard-earned money,” said Attorney General Chris Carr. “Commissioner Dozier and the Department of Corrections work every day to crack down on the use of contraband cell phones, and we will continue to work together to protect our fellow Georgians and keep them informed and ahead of the inmate schemes.”
“In the fourth quarter of this fiscal year alone, we have seized more than 1,400 contraband cell phones from our facilities,” said Georgia Department of Corrections Commissioner Greg Dozier. “Those with criminal intentions are getting bolder, and as our staff continues to combat this type of behavior inside our correctional facilities, we want Georgians to remain aware and alert when talking to unidentified callers.”
Below you’ll find the most common con that scammers try to pull. But, this is not the only one. Visit our website to learn about more scams and more ways you can defend yourself from becoming a victim. CLICK HERE.
What are the most common phone scams?
Officer Impersonation Scam:
• Scammers will impersonate law enforcement officials and claim you have an active warrant for your arrest.
• To avoid further fines and/or jail time, scammers ask that you forward money.
• Most often, they ask you to load the money onto pre-paid debit cards such as Greendot cards, Rush Cards or others where money can be loaded and sent to an address.
• These addresses are often P.O. boxes that are not tied directly to them.
• Scammers may also ask for your account number or other personal information and will try to keep you on the phone until this information is provided.
• In many cases, if they can get you to make an initial payment, they will continue to ask for money periodically claiming additional fines or fees have come up.
What to know:
• Law enforcement will not call you in most cases if a warrant has been issued for your arrest.
• Criminal cases need to be investigated meaning you would have had some form of contact with law enforcement prior to any warrant being issued for you.
• Additionally, law enforcement will never allow for arrangements to be made over the phone to clear a warrant and will not take any forms of payment over the phone for warrants.
• A real warrant is a court-ordered document ordering any and all law enforcement agencies to arrest the named person, so they can appear before a judge and answer for the given charge.
• A warrant cannot be cleared due to payment.
