<\/p>\n
16 March 2025, Lower Saxony, Norden: A woman over 90 years old makes a phone call with an iphone on 16.03.2025 in Norden (Lower Saxony). Photo: Matthias Balk\/dpa (Photo by Matthias Balk\/picture alliance via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
picture alliance\/dpa\/picture alliance via Getty I<\/p>\n
The phone rings. A man identifies himself as a Travis County Sheriff\u2019s Office deputy. He says you missed jury duty. A warrant has been issued for your arrest. But the whole thing can go away, he assures you, if you act\u00a0quickly and pay a fine over the phone<\/a>.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The TCSO has been warning residents<\/a> about this kind of call for years. In January,\u00a0Leander police issued a similar alert, warning residents that callers posing as law enforcement <\/a>or government officials had been threatening people with arrest warrants. But the mechanics of the fraud stay largely the same regardless of which badge is being impersonated.<\/p>\n Leander police and the TCSO say they will never request payment over the phone, through gift cards, or via cryptocurrency, and urged anyone receiving a suspicious call to hang up and contact the department directly.\u00a0<\/p>\n Here is what residents in Central Texas need to know, and what tools are actually available to reduce the risk.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n What does a scam call look like?<\/p>\n Local officials describe three main scripts.<\/p>\n The jury duty call is the most common. A caller claiming to be a sheriff\u2019s deputy says the recipient missed a jury summons and a warrant has been issued. They demand immediate payment. Travis County Criminal District Court judges have warned publicly that any legitimate jury communication arrives by mail, never by phone.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n 27 December 2025, Lower Saxony, Norden: A 96-year-old woman stands at a window in her apartment in Norden (Lower Saxony, Germany) on December 27, 2025 and makes a phone call with a cordless phone in her hand. (symbol image, symbol photo, illustration, symbolic photo, illustrative photo, theme image, general image, theme photo) Photo: Matthias Balk\/dpa (Photo by Matthias Balk\/picture alliance via Getty Images)<\/p>\n picture alliance\/dpa\/picture alliance via Getty I<\/p>\n The grandparent call is a second variant. The caller says a grandchild has been arrested and needs bond money immediately. An accomplice sometimes poses as the grandchild or as an attorney. According to the sheriff\u2019s office, these calls often show the Travis County Jail as the incoming number on caller ID\u00a0\u2014 a spoofed display that has no connection to the actual facility.<\/p>\n Bank impersonation calls typically begin with a text that looks like a fraud alert from a financial institution. When the victim responds or calls back, a\u00a0scammer posing as a bank security representative instructs them to transfer funds into a \u201csafe\u201d account to protect against the supposed breach\u00a0\u2014 an account the scammer controls.<\/p>\n Across all three, the common denominator is pressure and untraceable payment: gift cards read aloud over the phone,\u00a0cryptocurrency, wire transfers, or a courier at the door. The sheriff\u2019s office is unambiguous: it will never request any of those forms of payment, for any reason.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Bitcoin is a digital currency\u00a0\u2014 or cryptocurrency\u00a0\u2014 that is not backed by any government or central bank.<\/p>\n Dreamstime\/TNS<\/p>\n \u201cLaw enforcement agencies will not demand money over the phone,\u201d the Travis County Sheriff\u2019s Office says on its website. \u201cAny caller who wants you to pay via crypto is a\u00a0scammer.\u201d<\/p>\n How to stop scam calls on iPhone and Android<\/p>\n Both major smartphone operating systems have features designed to screen calls from unknown numbers.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n On an iPhone, Apple\u2019s built-in call screening tool<\/a> is found under Settings > Apps > Phone. Under \u201cScreen Unknown Callers,\u201d users can choose to silence any call from a number not saved in their contacts, which sends it to voicemail without ringing. Apple also offers a \u201cCall Filtering\u201d option<\/a> under the same menu that moves calls from unknown numbers into a separate list for review.<\/p>\n Android\u2019s built-in Phone app<\/a> includes a Caller ID and Spam filter under its settings that can automatically screen suspected spam calls. Users can also configure Do Not Disturb mode<\/a> to ring only for numbers saved in their contacts, with everything else going silently to voicemail.\u00a0<\/p>\n Free robocall blocking tools from AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon<\/p>\n The three largest U.S. wireless carriers each operate network-level tools that intercept suspected robocalls before they reach a customer\u2019s phone, and each offers a free tier that many subscribers have never activated.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n AT&T\u2019s ActiveArmor app<\/a>, which is free to all AT&T wireless subscribers, provides automatic fraud call blocking, spam detection, and the ability to route calls from specific categories to voicemail.\u00a0<\/p>\n On March 30, 2024, the Dallas-based telecommunications company announced its first data breach, affecting about 73 million accounts \u2014 7.6 million current customers and 65.4 million former ones.\u00a0(Photo by Jonathan\u00a0Raa\/NurPhoto via Getty Images)<\/p>\n NurPhoto\/NurPhoto via Getty Images<\/p>\n T-Mobile\u2019s Scam Shield<\/a>, also free to all T-Mobile customers, labels incoming calls flagged as likely scams before they ring. Customers can also enable Scam Block, which stops flagged calls from connecting at all.\u00a0<\/p>\n Verizon\u2019s Call Filter<\/a> identifies and flags suspected spam calls for free, with an option to automatically block them based on a customer\u2019s preferred risk threshold.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The FCC maintains a directory of call-blocking tools at fcc.gov\/call-blocking<\/a>\u00a0for subscribers of smaller carriers.<\/p>\n Does the National Do Not Call Registry stop scam calls?<\/p>\n The National Do Not Call Registry<\/a>, run by the Federal Trade Commission, is worth registering with, but it is not a defense against\u00a0scammers. The registry obligates legitimate telemarketers to stop calling numbers listed on it. It has no mechanism to stop someone who is already operating outside the law.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n