Harrison County Scam Alert

MARSHALL – An old scam with a new twist has surfaced in Harrison County. Someone calls and announces it is the “Harrison County Sheriff’s Office”. Then, you will be directed to the “patrol division or warrants division” and asked to leave a message if nobody answers. Sheriff’s department Lieutenant Jay Webb says, “The person who returns your call will instruct you to meet them at the front of the Harrison County Courthouse because a warrant has been issued for your arrest. The caller will ask for your name, Social Security number, and other identifying information.” They then tell you to bring cash for the warrant. The twist to this scam is that they ask you to come to the front of the courthouse with payment.” Sheriff Tom McCool reminds people to not fall for these scams and if you are contacted by them, contact the sheriff’s office.

Lt. Webb says, “if you return a call to the telephone number, the number you call from will be captured into their database and you will have numerous calls from other scammers. The scammers sell lists of telephone numbers to other scammers for their use. The callers manipulate the telephone number to make it appear that it is coming from a local telephone number when in reality, it is a cell phone that has had the caller ID number changed. That process is known as “spoofing” and is widely used by people outside of the United States.”