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READING, Pa. (CBS) — The Berks County District Attorney’s Office is asking residents to stay vigilant after a phone call scam targeting residents is on the rise.
The DA’s Office said the scam begins with a phone call from either a random number or in many cases, a phone number spoofing a member of the Berks County Sheriff’s Department, to a potential victim.
The scammers, whose telephone numbers often use the names and numbers of active sheriff deputies and judges in the Berks County Court of Common Pleas, tell victims they missed jury duty or failed to comply with a court subpoena, the DA’s Office said in a news release Monday.
The scammers tell victims that because of this oversight, they have to rectify the situation by choosing between a new court appearance, imprisonment for up to three days, or a “civil option” where the victim is tasked with taking money to a cryptocurrency ATM, investigators said.
The cryptocurrency ATMs are often used in these sorts of scams, according to the DA’s Office, because the transactions are irreversible and hard to trace.
The DA’s Office is reminding residents that failure to comply with a court subpoena or missing jury duty will never lead the Berks County Sheriff’s Office to solicit money over the phone.
A similar scam was recently reported by the Northampton County Sheriff’s Department. Investigators with the department claimed that someone had been calling county residents and falsely claiming to be the sergeant of Northampton County’s Sheriff’s Department.
Aside from impersonating the sergeant, the caller then asks for the person’s bank and credit card information to settle an arrest warrant issued for the resident after failing to attend jury duty.
Authorities ask anyone who receives a call from a potential scammer to contact their local police department, the Sheriff’s Department or the Berks County DA’s Office. You can also file a complaint with the FTC online or by calling them at 202-326-2222.
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