Scammers target Buchanan County residents with convincing phone calls
By Leah Rainwater
It’s getting harder and harder to detect scammers, and just this week, one St. Joseph resident dealt with a scheme over the phone by someone posing as law enforcement.
Dee Dee Squires said she received a bizarre phone call from a supposed sheriff’s deputy at the Buchanan County Sheriff’s Office on Monday.
“He said that I had missed a piece of mail that required me to come to court as a material witness,” Squires said. “I had to pay a fine of a thousand dollars and I had to come and meet him to pay that bond.”
To Squires, this sounded like a legit phone call, until she made remarks about bringing someone with her to pay the fine.
“I said, ‘Well, I’m gonna bring my husband with me’,” Squires said. “And he said, ‘Nope, you can’t bring anyone with you,’ and I said, ‘How about an attorney?’ ‘No, you can’t bring an attorney. If you do, you’ll have to spend 72 hours in jail.’”
Squires said another red flag from the phone call was the fact that the caller would not get off of the phone with her.
“He wouldn’t get off the phone with me, he wanted to stay on the phone with me until I was face to face with him,” Squires said.
Squires said it wasn’t until her husband got on the phone with an attorney that she realized the phone call was a scam.
The Buchanan County Sheriff’s Office said although they do call people for any outstanding misdemeanor warrants, the department would never ask for money over the phone.
Squires said she called the sheriff’s office after she was almost scammed, in which they confirmed that she did not have a fine for failing to appear in court.
Officers said they are aware of the scams and to be on guard when it comes to phone calls.
Squires also recommended confirming the caller is actually employed with Buchanan County.
“Well, I would say, um, ‘What is your number? I’m going to hang up and I’ll call you back,’ or get his name and say, ‘Well, I’m going to confirm that you work for the Sheriff’s Department,’” Squires said.
