LIMA, OH (WLIO) - Allen County Sheriff Matt Treglia is warning residents about the most recent scam of bogus calls demanding money because you haven't shown up for jury duty.
Sheriff Treglia says they have had several individuals call them after the fact that they think they have been scammed. He says that people have been scammed out of several thousand dollars. The scam involves the caller identifying themselves as being with the sheriff's office and that they have an arrest warrant for failure to appear for jury duty.
This is a scam as the sheriff's office would not call you, but appear in person to summon you for jury duty.
"The facts are, yes, we are having trouble finding jurors, but if we are going to come looking for you, you're going to see a deputy in this uniform," said Treglia. "They're going to be knocking on your door. They're going to be coming to you face to face to take care of this, if we have an issue like that. But, the scammers have jumped all over this and they've went above and beyond to start up their scams again and call up for jury duty and talk people into giving them money with gift cards."
Several people that have been scammed say the callers are stern and demanding, and stay on the phone until they get the code numbers from the cards. Authorities can't stress enough that law enforcement would never ask for those things and encourage you to call with questions.
"What I'm hearing mostly is they're threatened by these individuals; if they don't do this, this is going to happen - that never happens," said Treglia. "If you have a question and somebody calls you, you can simply call the sheriff's station, at (419) 227-3535, and I guarantee you our dispatcher is going to tell you it's a scam and just to hang up and don't answer their calls anymore."
Again if you get a call identifying themselves as being from the sheriff's office about not showing up for jury duty and asking for money, hang up - it is a scam.
