Officials warn of phone scams

Local law enforcement agencies are warning Tuolumne County residents regarding scam phone call plots involving false claims of kidnapping, warrants and financial settlements.

The phone call scams are a national issue — featured in official warning letters from the FBI and the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) — and tend to target the vulnerable, including the elderly and financially insecure.

“We want to make everyone aware of this concerning scam,” the Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Office announced in a news release this week. “Due to the upsetting nature of the call, it is understandable why someone may be tricked into following the scammers orders.

The Sheriff’s Office said it had received several reports of a kidnapping phone scam in the area, which involved scammers calling phone numbers and claiming to have kidnapped a loved one of the person who answers. The scammers then demand a wire transfer of money on the threat they will cause harm to the family member.

People who reported the kidnapping calls also said

they seemed real because a person could be heard in the background screaming.

“It is important to remember, if you are being asked to wire transfer, provide personal identifying information, or purchase gift cards by someone over the phone, you should immediately begin to be concerned the caller may be a scammer,” the release said.

The Sheriff’s Office recommended that anyone concerned about scam phone calls should contact their dispatch center at (209) 533-5815.

A September 2020 press release from the FBI warned of kidnapping calls being made in the El Paso area with some of the same details — deception, threats and ransoms. On average, the families are requested to send thousands of dollars via wire transfer, the press release said, which are more difficult to trace and track.

The callers often pose as members of drug cartels or as corrupt law enforcement to instill fear in the victim and ensure compliance. They will also engage the victims in conversation in order to keep them from verifying the status and location of the people they claim who were kidnapped.

The FBI warned that calls were usually made from outside area codes and may involve multiple calls. They usually do not come from the allegedly kidnapped person’s phone.

Those who answer the phone are recommended to keep calm and avoid sharing family information. In order to maintain composure on the call, people are also recommended to ask to speak to the kidnapped person and ask them questions only they might know and also try to contact the individual through other means while on the call.

A November 2019 article with AARP detailed a scam which used ID spoofing — fraudulent technology which replicates phone information to a caller — and resulted in two sisters being scammed at the same time for more than $7,000 total.

The Sheriff’s Office’s warning follows on the heels of a Sonora Police Department news release from March 26 involving a similar scam, with callers posing as local law enforcement and telling residents they have a warrant for their arrest.

The victims are asked to rectify the situation through payment and are threatened with arrest.

“Often, the caller claims that the arrest warrant is due to not paying a debt, missing jury duty, or committing some other minor infraction,” the Sonora Police Department said.

These calls can also involve spoofing, which can manipulate caller ID data to suggest the call is coming from the Sonora Police Department or another law enforcement agency.

The police department stated emphatically that they will never ask for credit or debit card numbers, wire transfers or bank routing numbers over the phone to clear up a legal matter. It also said individuals will not be contacted directly in the case of an actual request for payment.

Those with concerns about warrant phone calls in the city limits are requested to contact the department at (209) 532-8143.