Scammers are focusing on a new vulnerable population — sex offenders.
Beaumont Police Department spokesperson Carol Riley said the department has seen seven cases of attempted or completed scams on area sex offenders.
“A lot of their information and registration (as a sex offender) is public,” Riley said.
That makes them an easy target for those looking to profit off the fear of re-incarceration or other violations that offenders worry about after serving their time while still on parole or probation.
“The scam is to call the person and tell them they have a bond to pay or that they’re about to be arrested,” Riley said.
This scam continues to run amok in California. I’ve had two attempts just in the past month. On one of them, they called and said they were sheriffs from a different county and said they oversee registration in my area (woops on their part) and so I hung up on them and immediately called the police department. Interesting enough, 5 minutes later I got another call, this time the caller ID was spoofing the local police department. It was the same scammer.
This should matter, but it won’t. Neither will the next million instances of registry facilitated crimes targeting PFRs…nor the million after that…nor the million after those…it will never matter.
Citizens, Cops, Electeds, all fine with leaving PFRs to the mercy of whomever should decide to show up. No matter how many crimes that helps make happen, no matter what the nature of those crimes are, and no matter who suffers and how they suffer…always going to be Acceptable Losses.
Only thing that can change that would appear to be…if some judge decides that enough has finally become enough. Enough murders….enough violent assaults…enough harassment…enough fraud. Finally enough discrimination, and violence impacting enough PFRs and their families, including the children in these families. That will someday happen…that is clear…but just how many crimes will the judiciary allow the State to help facilitate before they get to that point, isn’t.
Ok, enough preaching to the choir. Didn’t see a way to leave a comment on the article site. Is there, because I would love to…;)
Ummmm lets see… who has made this info public ?? Ohhh yea the CORRUPTED US GOVERNMENT !!!! That figures.
My roomate had a call similar a few mos ago, I traced the # that called him BACK to a FREE APP BURNER Number using CNAM LOOKUP (website) to REVERSE the # to a name/company providing service.
Roomate never spoke to person (who said he was a cop….FAKE ALERT !!) … but if ANYONE Pays for this perp scam it should be the US GOVERNMENT, as they are leaking DATA !!
US Government isnt far behind the Russian government as far as being LEGIT…. after all Listening in on calls, Saving METADATA etc etc.
I’m in California and just got one of those calls claiming to be from the Sacramento Sheriff. He said I was supposed to give them a secondary DNA sample and didn’t show up. Since I have already had several of these extortion attempts I didn’t even keep him on the line but said, “Stop right there. I know you are not calling from the Sheriff’s Department and what you are doing is illegal. If, as you claim, I have done something wrong, come and arrest me.” And immediately hung up. I previously told my local law enforcement about the other calls, filed reports, but from the response I received as I filed the report I realized they wouldn’t be doing anything about it. Here’s an idea: how about we eliminate the online website that invites criminals and other vigilantes to prey on an unprotected class of people, ie Registered Citizens?
I act very cooperative, carefully note what they have to say, repeate it all back to them. Make sure I have their correct number to call back… And then advise them I’ve passed it all on to local law enforcement and that impersonating a law officer is a felony.
The next thing I usually get is a click on the line.
Sometimes they threaten to come and arrest me.
I ask a time so that I can have my lawyer present… Along with local law enforcement.
Click
The scams are really nothing new except the DDI has amplified and exacerbated the scope of the problem. These Personal information collectives are very very large. Given both Presidents and Vice presidents are being exposed for lack of gov document security, what convinced folks thinking the DDI is really any more secure? Loose lips sink ships. What’s worse is the general paranoia among the people grows from the constant bombardment of very ugly news stories, the combative political class claiming a better path with the same lame game. Task forces can arrest to the hilt, no doubt financed by that 20M posted about a few weeks back, but that only exacerbates the paranoia and sense of ineffective gov.