Source: Florida Action Committee 9/1/22
FAC has sent letters to the Sheriffs of all 67 Counties in Florida, asking them to warn registrants of the scam targeting registrants across Florida and all states.
FAC also calls on the affiliate organizations in each State, encouraging them to send a similar request to the registration offices in their States.
Scams targeting people on the registry have been taking place for years. Law enforcement has done very little to pursue the scammers or warn registrants about the existence of these scams. For that reason, we need to take it upon ourselves to protect each other.
Read the full article and the letter
This is certainly not limited to Florida. A few weeks ago I received a number of phone calls from someone stating they were from the local sheriff’s office. He was persistent in trying to reach me, calling over and over. Finally he got me on the phone and told me that I needed to submit a new DNA sample, fingerprints, etc. He couldn’t explain why.
I hung up and called the sheriff’s office on their non-emergency number. When I got a call from a deputy, she took the information but didn’t seem too concerned. I was told that if they actually needed something from me they’d make contact by mail or by sending a deputy to my front door. Similar response when I called the registry office – not much concern and a simple instruction to call the sheriff to report it.
Everyone on the registry needs to be vigilant about things like this. Thanks to the database, they have all our data and we’re largely defenseless other than by using common sense. If it feels like a scam, it probably is.
So, we got our first ever scam call from someone claiming to be from the local sheriff’s office. He said his name and left a phone number. He called twice back to back, but we never answered. I called the local sheriff’s non emergency number, and they said that number is not one that is associated with their office, and they would not make a call like this. No mention of what it was about, so I am guessing had we answered, they would have given us the “DNA” spiel. Oh, and this never happened before he was on the public site. So, another way to ensure those on the public site are easy targets for harassment and scams.