SETX \u2014 Scammers posing as law enforcement are increasingly targeting people in Southeast Texas, trying to trick them into handing over money by claiming there\u2019s a warrant, an arrest or a legal problem involving a loved one.<\/p>\n
Jefferson County Sheriff Zena Stephens said the sheriff\u2019s office is seeing the scam frequently and urged residents to be skeptical of any caller demanding money while claiming to represent police or other agencies.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you get a phone call from anyone telling you that a police officer, the sheriff’s office, any law enforcement agency needs money to get you out of jail or to get an ankle bracelet or that you have a warrant or your kids or your family members have a warrant, hang up the phone, call the sheriff’s office,\u201d Stephens said.<\/p>\n
Stephens said people should also contact local police directly to verify any claim. \u201cCall the Beaumont Police Department and verify that there are scammers all over the place, our state who are doing this,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She said the scammers are not just local and that authorities have tried calling some of the numbers back. \u201cWe’ve called some of the numbers back. They are crooks. They’re trying to get your money. Don’t give it to them,\u201d Stephens said.<\/p>\n
Stephens warned that scammers may have access to personal details that make the calls seem legitimate. \u201cFor some reason, they’re getting access to some of your personal information. They have other family members names. They have birth dates. They are getting that from some illegal data force. Not from the sheriff’s office. Not from an app,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Stephens emphasized that legitimate law enforcement agencies do not call people to demand money and urged residents not to provide sensitive information by phone. \u201cNo, please, please do not give anyone any personal information or banking information over the phone,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She also advised residents not to take further steps at a caller\u2019s direction. \u201cDo not go to the bank. Do not meet anyone. Do not go get a green card. There are all kind of separate scams out there,\u201d Stephens said. \u201cProtect your investments, protect your money, and most of all, protect your family.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SETX \u2014 Scammers posing as law enforcement are increasingly targeting people in Southeast Texas, trying to trick them…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":388649,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-388648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=388648"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388648\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/388649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=388648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=388648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=388648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}