(Stillwater, Oklahoma) Over the past week the Stillwater Police Department has received at least two complaints related to phone scams in Stillwater.
The victims reported they received a phone call from a subject stating he worked at the Payne County Sheriff’s Office. The caller told the victim they had an outstanding warrant. The caller then told the victim they could send money to the sheriff’s office via a PayPal payment and the warrant would be recalled. The victims were then directed to go to a retail store, purchase a PayPal card and then call the caller back to make arrangements to have the money sent to them to take care of the warrant. After the victims purchased the PayPal card and made the payment they learned they had been scammed.
The victims reported that their caller ID showed the call was coming from the Payne County Sheriff’s Office.
No legitimate law enforcement agency would ever call a person and advised them to pay for outstanding warrant using the method described above. A citizen may receive a call in reference to an outstanding warrant or unpaid traffic ticket; however they would be directed to the court clerk’s office to take care of any unpaid fine or they would be directed to the appropriate law enforcement agency to take care of the outstanding warrant.
This is not a new scam. Scammers have used a similar scam stating the caller worked at the Stillwater Police Department. The scammers are able to display the phone number for the law enforcement agency, they are stating they represent, when calling victims. However they are not employees of that law enforcement agency.
If you receive a call from someone who says they are a representative of the Stillwater Police Department or the Payne County Sheriff’s Office, or any other law enforcement agency, you can confirm whether or not the call is legitimate by calling the agency to confirm the call or going to the agency, in person, to confirm the call is legitimate.
Law enforcement personnel regularly call citizens as part of their daily business. However they do not solicit money from, nor do they direct citizens to purchase PayPal or other types of cards to pay for a warrant or outstanding fine.
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