Midland County Sheriff David Criner has issued a warning to residents about ongoing phone scams. In these scams, the caller falsely claims to be a law enforcement official demanding money. According to Criner, while there are different variations of the scam, all callers pose as law enforcement and demand payment in various forms such as gift cards, credit or debit cards, or money apps for reasons like a missed court date, a missed subpoena, or an active warrant.
In his Facebook post dated May 1st, Criner added that the caller might even spoof the law enforcement agency's phone number to make it appear as if the call is directly coming from the particular agency.
The sheriff reassured citizens that no law enforcement officer will ever call and demand money over the phone instead of making an arrest.
Criner further advised residents to outsmart the callers by not surrendering any personal details and to simply hang up.
He emphasized that such calls must be reported to the agency being impersonated.
According to Government Technology, artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly used in phone scams because the public tends to fall for them easily.
Joan Lawcewicz, a financial crimes investigator from Wisconsin, stated in the report that people must safeguard their Social Security numbers as even the last four digits could provide a gateway for scammers.