Scammers want your money! They know that registrants are vulnerable, so they think up the most outrageous ways to scare us or make impossible promises to get our money.
Don’t give them any money!
They try to get your money in many ways, such as:
- Promising to get us off the registry
- Threatening to arrest us if we don’t give them money. Some even claim to be law enforcement officials, but real officials NEVER ask for money. You can confirm these scams by looking up the law enforcement phone number yourself in the phone book (NEVER assume they give you the real phone number) and telling law enforcement you received a threat for money.
- Give us something free with hidden strings
If you know about a new one, please add it as a comment and include a link.
Being told you must spend thousands to apply to petition for removal from the registry? Instead, here are twenty public defender offices that have made resources available to help you.
If you are not sure you are being scammed, hang up immediately and CALL YOUR POLICE/SHERIFF to verify you are being scammed.
Latest scam alerts:
4/3/25: Arizona DNA scam: “People masquerading as Maricopa County Sheriff’s Department saying my DNA sample was corrupted and there was a bench warrant for my arrest so I had to get $6500 and post a bond that after I gave my new DNA sample would have $6450 refunded. When they gave me a gas station location for the kiosk and sent me a Bitcoin QR code, I got VERY suspicious and went to the MCSO substation who informed me it was a scam.”
2/7/25: Chase Bank SCAM Drains Your Accounts in Minutes
2/5/25: No One Prepares You for the Sex Offense Registry Phone Scams
9/3/24: Sextortion Scammers Try to Scare People by Sending Photos of Their Homes
9/1/24: “Police” scammer asks you if you are texting children
2/9/24: NC: Warning about scam involving NC sex offense registry
8/25/23: SC: Deputies warn of arrest warrant-issued scam targeting residents on sex offense registry
7/5/23: DE: Crypto phone scam targets people on Delaware’s sex offense registry
2/13/23: KS: New scam targets registered offense requiring phony DNA tests
1/12/23: TX: Scam targeting people forced to register
8/3/22 CA: False Government Documents Used in Scam Netting About $10,000
6/16/22 Legal document assistant for petition to terminate registration. This legal document assistant (not an attorney) says they will do your petition for removal, but doesn’t seem to know what is needed before a court will consider a petition, that is, service upon DA and local law enforcement.
6/9/22 someone claiming to be from the department warning them they’ll be placed on the sex offense registry unless they pay the caller money.
3/10/22 Official-sounding caller claiming to be the police says you have to immediately register again due to SORNA. An alternative version is you must re-register for vague COVID reasons. Hang up immediately and CALL YOUR POLICE/SHERIFF to verify you are being scammed.
11/22/21 Scammers targeting People Forced to Register in NC [cbs17.com 11/17/21]
11/8/21 This attorney will help you for free except when he will not: Attorney scam – Supposedly free except when it is not
10/29/21 This guy will give you lots of Bible quotes as he empties your pockets: Attorney scam – Give me lots of money because I sound religious
10/9/21 Non-attorney will charge you $1,495 to fill out tiered registry removal paperwork but won’t even tell you if you qualify! Lots of money to fill out CA Tiered Registry removal paperwork
8/26/21 CA Tiered Registry phony attorney claims: The truly bad news is that there are legal professionals making claims regarding the petitioning process upon which they cannot deliver. For example, it is reported that an attorney in Los Angeles county is promising registrants assigned to Tier 3, the highest tier which requires lifetime registration, that he can — for a fee of $60,000 — change their tier assignment to a lower tier and make the registrant eligible to petition for removal from the registry.
Scam letters from attorneys:
A common scam is flyers mailed by attorneys who say they can magically get you off the registry but only if you throw piles of money at them. Listen to ACSOL instead. Talk to Janice if you are tempted to waste your money on one of them!
Download the following PDFs of sample scam letters:
- Child Molester! Scare tactics attorney scam
- Jesus wants you to give me money – Attorney scam
- Tier assignment lawyer scam letter
- I Just Want My Life Back attorney scam letter
Links to web articles about scams targeting registrants:
Don’t fall for these! If anyone threatens to arrest you if you don’t give them money, don’t give them money! Call the office where you register to confirm there is no warrant and report them.
General search results for scams against registrants
PA: State officials warn of sex offense registry scam [timesobserver.com – 5/16/21]
VSP warning about phone scam targeting people registered for a sex offense [wric.com – 5/4/21]
Shady scam bots trick Omegle users into nonconsensual video sex recordings [blog.malwarebytes.com – 4/16/21]
CA: New phone scam targeting people registered for a sex offense [actionnewsnow.com – 2/9/21]
CA: Scammers Target Los Angeles Registrants, Families [7/3/20]
NE: Scammers targeting Madison County people registered for a sex offense [kearneyhub.com – 4/20/20]
NEW Scam targeting registrants: Extortion letter [floridaactioncommittee.org – 11/6/19]
CA: Georgia Couple Posed as L.A. County Deputies to Scam Victims Out of $16K in Gift Cards [9/19/19]
Scammers Targeting Registrants [blog.womenagainstregistry.org – 7/4/18]
Scam Alert: $2,000 Fine for Moving Without Reporting [sosen.org 5/9/18]