SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA CO. (WOLF) \u2014 The Lackawanna County District Attorney’s Office is warning residents about a phone scam in which callers impersonate local law enforcement and court officials to pressure people into sending thousands of dollars.<\/p>\n
According to the district attorney’s office, scammers are telling victims they missed jury duty, have unpaid traffic citations or are the subject of an active arrest warrant. The callers then demand immediate payment, claiming the money is needed to avoid arrest.<\/p>\n
Officials say the scam has become increasingly sophisticated. Callers have reportedly used the names of real Lackawanna County officials, including President Judge James Gibbons and Sheriff Mark McAndrew, and in some cases have manipulated caller ID information to make it appear the call is coming from the Lackawanna County Sheriff’s Office.<\/p>\n
Investigators said victims have been instructed to withdraw large amounts of cash and deposit the money through kiosks or other payment machines.<\/p>\n
The district attorney’s office said one person reportedly lost about $2,000, while another nearly sent $5,000 before realizing the call was fraudulent.<\/p>\n
Authorities stressed that no legitimate law enforcement agency or court in Lackawanna County will call and demand immediate payment by cash, cryptocurrency, gift cards or kiosk deposits to avoid arrest.<\/p>\n
Anyone who receives one of these calls is urged to hang up immediately, avoid sharing personal or financial information, and contact the agency or court directly using a verified phone number.<\/p>\n
Residents who believe they have been targeted by the scam or have already sent money are encouraged to contact their local police department.<\/p>\n
The district attorney’s office is also asking residents to share the warning with family members, friends and neighbors, especially older adults, who are often targeted by similar scams.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA CO. (WOLF) \u2014 The Lackawanna County District Attorney’s Office is warning residents about a phone scam…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":251190,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[178,180,179],"class_list":["post-251189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251189"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251189\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}