TN: Phone scam with a new twist: Pay or be placed on the sex offender registry

Source: wkrn.com 6/9/22

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – A new phone scam is making its way around the Nashville area.

According to the Metro Nashville Police Department’s Fraud and Sex Crimes detectives, the scam sees Nashvillians called by someone claiming to be from the department warning them they’ll be placed on the sex offender registry unless they pay the caller money.

The caller uses an actual Metro officer’s name, according to police. The calls use spoofing technology to appear as if they come from a legitimate Metro Police phone number.

Metro reminded Nashvillians that the department will never call anyone to solicit money for any reason. The public is urged to be cautious when giving out personal information to someone who is not a confirmed and trusted source.

“Think before you send money out of fear,” Metro police said.

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My opinion? Anyone that falls for this type of scam is missing more than a few brain cells.

  1. How would any single agency get access to the ability to do that. The registry is so much more than just a local office thing.
  2. What official government entity calls demanding money in exchange for service.
  3. Anyone that threatens me with blackmail, go right ahead. They work off of intimidation, and I can’t be intimidated.

I keep reading here where people get anxiety about faux calls from L.E.O.s and I admit I wonder about their actual knowledge of their circumstances.

Law enforcement will not call you, they just come arrest you without warning. Or at least that is what a sheriff department employee told me after I told her of two scam voice mails I received (and which I deleted and never called back). Of course she never offered to investigate because LE could care less is registered people are hassled.

My response was, I know you would just come arrest me with no warning, so that is how I knew these were scams in addition to a bogus FBI phone number left on my voice mail from LA when there is an FBI office in my county here in TX and when the second voice mail left a voice mail supposedly calling from the sheriff’s office but where I immediately recognized the first 6 digits of the phone number were not my county’s phone number scheme.

And if any scammer calls me and asks for money or they will put me all over the internet, I would tell them they are too late and go take a hike because I ran for public office and my story is already all over the internet if they bother to look.

Guess I have been lucky, only 2 scammer calls in 16 years.

“Think before you send money out of fear,” Metro police said.

Too bad they didn’t THINK before passing these laws out of fear.

I know what I did that last time I got a similar call:

1.) noted the number and assured I could call it back; pretended I had a bad connection

2.) called a known correct PD number and reported the
— extortion attempt with the details (name, number time date etc)
— attempted impersonation of a police officer

3.) posted the name/number here and invited the fellowship here to have fun.

Oddly, I’ve gotten no more calls.
I guess the criminals don’t like that brand of fun anymore.

I “play” similar games with the microsoft/amazon support calls

Play the game too. it’s cheap and there’s NOT a bunch else to do