9 October 2023
GARDEN CITY, Kan. (KSNW) — Residents of Garden City and Finney County are being warned about the return of law enforcement scam calls to the area.
Garden City Police say scammers are again calling and posing as either police officers or deputies with the Finney County Sheriff’s Office. In these scams, they will claim that the person has a warrant out for their arrest because they missed jury duty, failed to pay a ticket, or committed some other offense.
They are told they must pay a fine immediately, or someone will be there within the hour to arrest them. They may ask you to purchase gift cards of some type and read them the card numbers, try to use a money transfer app, or even direct you to purchase bitcoin or some other type of cryptocurrency and transfer it to them.
The scammers are able to spoof Caller ID systems to make it appear to be a legitimate call. They use fear and urgency to convince people to cooperate.
Law enforcement will never contact you this way if you do have a warrant. If you receive a call from anyone claiming to be law enforcement of any kind saying you have a warrant, just hang up.
If you still have concerns that it is real, contact your local police or sheriff’s office and verify if it is legitimate. For more information about scams and how to avoid them, click here.