{"id":87671,"date":"2026-01-15T17:10:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T17:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/87671\/"},"modified":"2026-01-15T17:10:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T17:10:10","slug":"northampton-county-residents-warned-about-phone-scam-impersonating-sheriffs-department","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/87671\/","title":{"rendered":"Northampton County residents warned about phone scam impersonating sheriff\u2019s department"},"content":{"rendered":"

Northampton County<\/a> District Attorney Stephen G. Baratta is warning residents about an ongoing phone scam in which callers impersonate the Northampton County Sheriff\u2019s Department and demand cryptocurrency payments to avoid arrest.<\/p>\n

Residents have reported receiving calls from phone numbers 610-488-2855 and 610-829-5601, where scammers claim victims have outstanding criminal arrest warrants or bench warrants for failing to appear for jury duty. The callers tell victims they face immediate arrest unless they pay fines or post bail using cryptocurrency.<\/p>\n

Victims are directed to bring cash to local Bitcoin or other cryptocurrency ATMs, typically located at convenience stores or retail locations. The scammers have created a fake website for the Northampton County Sheriff\u2019s Department that includes what appears to be a local phone number staffed by the perpetrators.<\/p>\n

The scammers appear to be operating from outside the United States and conceal their identities using virtual private networks, proxy servers, and encrypted communication platforms, according to the district attorney\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

The Northampton County Sheriff, county administration, and local law enforcement are working to dismantle the fake website.<\/p>\n

Baratta emphasized that the Northampton County Sheriff\u2019s Department and court system do not accept cryptocurrency. The sheriff\u2019s department does not collect fines in criminal cases nor does it accept payment for bail.<\/p>\n

The court and law enforcement do not request or demand immediate payment via telephone, Baratta said. Any emergency payment can only be made in person at the Office of Clerk of Criminal Court or at Northampton County Prison for bail purposes outside normal business hours.<\/p>\n

Anyone who receives such demands for payment should hang up and immediately call their local police department to report the communication.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Northampton County District Attorney Stephen G. Baratta is warning residents about an ongoing phone scam in which callers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":87672,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154],"class_list":{"0":"post-87671","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bethlehem","8":"tag-bethlehem","9":"tag-bethlehem-headlines","10":"tag-bethlehem-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87671","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=87671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87671\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}