Scammers posing as deputies increasingly targeting Southern California residents
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ก.พ. 2025
- A disturbing new trend is targeting Southern Californians as scammers are pretending to be deputies from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Although these phone scams have been around for some time, modern versions have grown increasingly sophisticated and convincing to unsuspecting victims.
The scam phone call will often sound authoritative and create a sense of urgency. That’s the type of voicemail Carolyn Jaques received one day while working at her spa in Pasadena. "The first thing you think is, 'Someone’s injured or there’s been a car accident,”' Jaques said. So she immediately called the number back and a man picked up the phone.
"I say, ‘Is everything okay?’” she said. “And he said, “Everything is all right, ma’am, but you have a warrant. I’m calling to let you know we have a warrant for your arrest.’” Jaques knew that wasn’t possible. She hadn’t committed any crimes. But the caller remained persistent.
KTLA's John Fenoglio reports on Feb. 17, 2024.
Details: ktla.com/news/...
KTLA 5 News - Keeping Southern Californians informed since 1947.
Real arrests come in person, with cuffs and a warrant... they don't phone and give you time to flee.
And I hope folks are not falling for this. She continued speaking with them, drove to the station????…..sounds a tad less than smart! 🤦🏽♀️
Since when does the po po 👮♀
Take bitcoin , zelle or gift cards . LoL 🤔
The fact that he told her not to go to the Courthouse and she did means that he knew she was smarter than him.
Well that should be common sense. “You’re under arrest but if you want to get away now’s the time.” 😅
Fax
They almost got me like this in nyc. A friend at the time told me to calm down and actually call the police. I did and the deputy told me. " if we were coming to get you. We wouldn't call you first " and i felt dumb after that point
You were SMART!!!
Recieved a similar call last year. Was told my SS number was frozen and they were going to arrest me for tax evasion. So i let them know, i know about the freeze, and asked if it was in connection to my house arrest for murdering my neighbors? They hung up on me. How rude. 😅😅😅
😂
Now that's hill larry us
😂😂😂😂😂😂- they weren’t expecting that
Brilliant!
i will have to use this next time scammers call
I simply do not answer any calls unless I know it’s family or something that I planned. That is what voice mail is for. But I’m aware that numbers can be spoofed and like others says, any type of pressure tactics is a clear warning sign
I’ve gone one step further, don’t have a phone number. I rely solely on email.
Exactly! And, I ignore some numbers I know….equal opportunity! 😂
Never answered the phone from strangers.
It’s not easy when you own your business and have to answer.
yes, exactly
Anytime I get calls like that I tell them come get me then. I'll start laughing at them and tell them bring it on.
😂
This is EXACTLY why I am suspicious of any "cop" that refuses to provide their name & badge number.
I can give you a name and badge number.
Yes they screw up. In my case I am sensitive to hearing,and dialects once I listen to it over three times,or multipule times I notice details and dialect issues. Asking rank ect is good badge number. This was hard for me to believe till I was a victim. Rings actually stake out law enforcement, and can get first and last names badge numbers. That's pschotic behavior. Ring in my case" We like watching them" " Fasicnated by ____ ____" who is a detective. And that is why there needs to be a crack down on these meth addicts who get in these crime rings,and commit multipule crimes. In my case they screwed up and tryed to confuse me LAPD, when actually it's Sherriff dept ,but its la County. Or used " Orange County detectives" then actively got bold " Federal crimes" and cloned from the FBI files show" The detective from Tampa" who us a homicide detecive in Florida from the series 20 years ago and mixed his voice for cyber harrasment on my p.c ,and in cyberstalking crimes. " This is the real __ ___" senior detective from LAPD. Then they tried,and still commuting crimes where they take one portion of the dialect of an FBI director,because they know I figured and can hear beats in dialects. They took the end of the sentence,and tryed to remix it. They remixed the end of her sentence on a news story. And taunted her first name___. Screwed up her first last name ,because they were so high on drugs. And then the ring leader corrected herself,and foolishly said her first and last name on cyber p.c.which again as ring leader stated " Federal crimes". And even are on the FBI,and law enforcement websites and apps outing and reading articles. " I must admit I'm stalking law enforcement " There needs to be penalty and full punishment for these types crimes,because of the heinus malicous nature of crimes commited. Imagine going through multipule incidents till they are caught. I am grateful and hopeful that FBI/ Law Enforcement will catch the ring in my case,and crack down on the other rings.
@@HappyHarryHardonExactly, and how would @ianbattles know it’s real?
How dumb does someone have to be to pay a “fine” with bit coin?
Bit Coin is a clear indication that something is a scam, but some of the less tech savy people out there don't even know what Bit Coin is. And when you are scared and thinking you are about to go to jail, it can affect your judgement. All the more reason we need stories like this to help get the word out and educate as many as possible on the scam.
EXACTLY!! But we have become a society of non-thinkers!! Critical thinking has been outlawed in public education for some time now!!
Lots of people don't know much of anything about crypto. Hardly anyone really even needs to unless you plan to invest in it
Less dumb than the ones who think they actually pay fines in GIFT CARDS
It's a young crime ring that's not intelligent, and doesn't do their research. Which means it's not someone skilled or educated. And that means young adults and teenagers are involved. For a warrant there is never a phone call. Usually it's in a certified letter,or a knock at your door.
Eseacially if you know you haven't broken the law. These rings try and convince,Brainwash, and scam you into thinking they are law enforcement. And are commiting other crimes. Gangstalking where they used p.cs,harrassment, and bugged everything to where they are following everwhere. Watching her every move. Hitting her p.c camera instalation. It's money Extortion ring is what it sounds like. They were very aggressive but I've have been a victim even worse. These rings threaten life," Shot to death if you go to " " Murder you " " Last time your going to see your mother" " Beat her with a baseball bat" " Plot to have her mother trip on the ice" " Drive your mother off the road" it's scary,because I heard their speaker bug from the right of front seat by vent toward front.
Police would never call any one like that. The telephone is the greatest tool a scammer can use.
This has been going on for years!
Yes it has
Dumb to think.a police officer would personally call.you to demand you pay a fine.
By Indians
@@Iceyfire12
Can’t be them, I pressed 1 for English.
Yes it has and I'm luck I'm still alive,but everyday I don't know what's going to happen if they do something in bedroom ,and " Her heart just skipped" and later I have been getting short of breath like a hyperventilating stress for three seconds. The ring in my case ring leader" Frankenstein expermint" " Hit her head" " Just a couple of Zaps here and there" and I do not hear anything inside ear its at distance. It's wifi bluetooth " Surround sound". There have been crime rings imiatating law enforcement years, but the rings today use fobbing,hitechnology in crime. And they are international. But we unfortunately have crime rings that are here in America high on meth,with trafficking and they need to be crack down on. That these young adults and teens are going to federal prison ,and penalties are stiff for imitating law enforcement/ FBI to use to taunt and commit crimes towards victims.
Some people freak out first, think second. Always take a breath, calm yourself, and reason will return. I've taught my sister to do this and it saved her from a fake IRS caller when those first started happening. Unless you're a career criminal, you know what you've done in your life and if you can be arrested for it.
They imitate multipule personas and are bad cyber actors if you listen to it.
This happened to me recently!
They were really convincing. Thankfully, I figured it out.
Me too my mom snapped
@@anthonyjones9868 That’s terrible! I’m so sorry! Did she do it over zoom?
A lot of why I was able to figure it out was because I’m old-school like the lady in the video and I wouldn’t do it over zoom. They wanted me to go to some kind of bitcoin machine. That’s when I figured it out.
But if it was over Zoom, I’m guessing they would’ve been dressed as cops and asking for bank information; which would’ve been far more difficult to say no to.
Geeze, it's a war zone - everytime you turn around there's another group of scammers getting busy being criminals!!! ⚖️
The fact that this lady thinks cops will call someone to let them know they got an arrest warrant is kind of comical. Had a scammer supposedly called from immigration before threatening me since I’m Asian. I cussed them out and told them to come get me from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, or where ever they were from.
That’s part of the reason I still have a landline. I put that number on any paperwork asking for a phone number. My phone rings a lot but nobody leaves a message.
Landlines will be gone soon.
It is amazing how Indians can emulate a southern accent so well.
There are voice machines that can change a person’s voice(accent) over a phone.
Yeah, there is AI that can imitate your family members voices and call you because they were "kidnapped" and beg for ransom money. Scary stuff.
Ai? Or voice mods can make you sound different
👳🏾♂️
I got a call like that years ago. They threatened to come and arrest me. I said to them, come and get me because my cousins are locked up and I can just chill with them. They hung up.😂
😂😂😂
Everyone knows numbers can be spoofed. Ive had calls from my own number.
I had an IRS scammer call me, scared the bee gee's out of me but after a few minutes their claims didn't make sense
She's right. They definitely won't call you. These people are just another type of scammers that are disguised as lazy people that refuses to go to work. SMH
The reality is scamming is much harder work than honest work. But scammer don't realize that.
When one does honest legit business, people gladly do business over and over again...
But you usually have one time to scam someone if that, then never again
@truthiscensored Exactly. I would think scamming and coming up with more lies to deceive people would be exhausting too. I don't see how they do it really.
No cop ever calls any criminal to tell them they have a warrant. A warrant is meant to be used in the carrying out of the arrest!
Hears a thought don't answer the phone cause it's weird Sheriffs wouldn't just call you out the blue
"Hears a thought"? 😄 Well, yeah...
❤Not trying to be mean, just letting you know....
it's
Here's NOT Hears
@@thesummerof1968 Mean? No! You're doing him a favor!
He's a ex cop
@@thesummerof1968 What!!!??? You didn't HEAR their thought?🤨😤😑
Need stronger laws to take care of this but they need to be ENFORCED!!!!!
Your info is easy to obtain nowadays.
1. Every company sells your info.
2. Company computers gets hacked everyday.
3. Your info being sold by hackers.
4. Your info from social media.
5. Phishing.
Punishment must not be severe enough
Are these sheriff's going to make undercover sting operations to lock these scumbag scammers up and pay restitution?
If you don't receive a letter in the mail or something like that then I wouldn't believe it. Never believe it if it's over the phone.
Stop falling for this people. They prey on your fear and trust and believe no PD has the resources to send a squad for someone missing jury duty.
Can't believe people are falling for this. A 'phone' call? My 8 year old knows better than that woman, and the husband drove her? WOW!
More cops should notify criminals with a courtesy call before going out to arrest them.
Never never answer calls from unknown numbers. Let then leave a phone number. Most scammers won't leave a VM, they want to get hold of you. Then google the number, never call back the number on the VM, use the number on the website instead.
There is nothing more that I detest than the stench of SCAMMERS
Tell these people you are tracking their location with A.I. and turning their address into the FBI. They will stop calling
Only a fool would fall for this.
It's pretty convincing especially with the threat of an arrest and if you should aren't up to speed with scams, they can get you, but lots of red flags for sure.
If you get these calls, don't just hang up. String them along with dumb questions, frustrate and demoralize them. Every minute they are speaking to you is a minute they aren't scamming someone else's grandma.
Voice record them and report them to law enforcement. If its cyber related to wiretapping report them to higher law agency which is the FBI. Because FBI is so advanced in sonos atracks,wifi attacks,Extortion rings,ect. I called and call the FBI. Because victims could lose money,and law enforcement agency's are taken advantage of and liable for a lawsuit. Always check and you can even do a documentation report,or text someone.
I'm not surprised about this scam at all. What surprises me, is that anyone falls for it.
Only a Silly person pays fines over the phone or at a Bit Coin machine. 🙄
They'll also accept Google Play cards. 🤦🏻♀️
Similar scams occur where the caller claims to be an IRS agent.
@@shauny2285 Or a real estate agent or a collector for the Policeman's ball.... No kidding. I get those at least once a year for over two decades!!
Also this guy on the phone the way he talks already give away that hes not that intelligent and not a way the deputies talks.
@@Mansikkacake Actually, many aren't highly educated. That explains the rapid escalation to violence by many officers.
Should have said "I'll have to ask my husband, he's on patrol right now"
I received 5 calls, paid all the fines and they still want to arrest me. I’m wondering if I should just place my fines on a monthly payment plan.
They've been number spoofing for years.... We need to know that official business is just never done this way. You can't buy your way out of an arrest warrant via a pre-paid Walmart card or by transferring your money into someone else account, or over the phone, or in a parking lot.
All of our local Law Enforcement Agencies are happy to help... Just hang up and call your local PD and tell them that you believe that you are being scammed by someone Claiming to be Law Enforcement...
This happened to me years ago. They even called my workplace and I almost lost my job because my manager really believed I had a warrant. I drove to the police hand him my phone and this awesome cop chewed them up and threatened with impersonating a police officer is a federal offense. They never bother me again.
The ring imitated HR representatives from my workplace,and cloned. They used someone phone number ,and called me from the same personal number not the company number, and interviewed me . Because I was on furlough ,and put in email for personal leave. Which I looked it was already approved. And h.r doesn't call you. Unless you call them. I had been off for awhile. I didn't know who was was with company still,or restructure. The same person called me with voice clone,and asked how my two weeks were going knowing full well I hadn't come back yet. And " ___" to check on me. " Call back in two weeks" and I was fooled. I then looked into later,and researched that there was no HR field for that area at all. And the general one for the whole company.And then I finally got the guts as terrified to do a reverse search ,and looked at call logs. The two incidents are the same number of someone else. That this ring took advantage of. And reported to law enforcement and FBI. That is evidence and a clue to where this black hat cyber viscous ring called from,and how they got that number. And again it points back to southern california, because some members are not old enough to travel. Espeacailly in a no fly zone under the pandemic. To insert spyware.
The same thing happened to us in Sacramento and it happened after our mail box was burglarized, I was recording the conversation and drive straight to the police department.
This used to happen to me about 7 years ago but they all had thick Indian accents
Should have pressed 1 for english
Gone are the days of being terrorized by Deputy Sheriff Patel...I'll miss convincing him to let me pay for my fines in bobs and vegana.
Was it really indian? Most international rings on those instagram scams have really broken English. It's not fluid like American verbaige. I watched episode scam city. Indians are well spoken in most cases,and highly intelligent they also can dialect their sounds fluently.
@@kmora2321Yes, most Indians speak English quite well due to being occupied by the British until 1947. But they still have an accent
Assume any call you get that you do not recognize is a scam. Let it roll to voicemail, then decide if you're going to call back. In her case, call back the number from a totally different phone.
Yes I live in Baltimore and I've been receiving scam calls from guys claiming to be the FBI and the police trying to get money from me and I tell them law enforcement don't ask for money over the phone and hang up
It bothers me that people fall for this crap
Don't even answer phone that you have no idea where it's coming from
They'd come knock on your door.😮
Or wait down the street, for you to come to them. U gotta laugh at this though😂 cause real 1s know the deal.
It makes no sense. If he’s the police, why would he tell her to not go in the police station?
I’ll be like come pick me up hurry up!!
This happened to me a few years ago. Luckily i was at my parents house and put it on speaker, after another minute my mom got on the line, some more back and forth then we both looked at each other and realized its a scam. It didn’t fool me, but they did have me on the phone for a long time. At lease 5 minutes. It was crazy.
That happened to me. He gave me directions to sacramento and when I Googled the address, it was not a ploce station or courthouse. Just a parking lot.
They don't call you if your wanted 😂they come to you
I would have a field day playing along. Someone called my girlfriend awhile back with a story of some kind asking for donations. Had our address and everything. I laughed it off and said it's a scam. She hung up on them.
I had someone call me wanting to be my internet provider. I pretended that I didn't know what the internet was. After they spent a few minutes trying to explain I told them "Tell you what...You send me 3 or 4 internets to try and if I like them I might buy more."
They hung up.
@@thecatthinks lol. Only God knows what I would come up with lol!
@@thecatthinkslol, that's wonderful!
WHEN YOU GET A CALL SAY HELLO THIS IS OFFICER JOHNSON -------CLICK@@thecatthinks
Years ago there used to be a guy that sold different recorded responses as a service. The call gets intercepted and the scammer/solicitor has a conversation with a recording. The words are spaced out to give the impression they are talking to an actual person but they end up getting the runaround being told to hang on while something needed to be done or to constantly repeat what they said. They eventually hang up.
“You have a warrant mam”
“Oh no!
“Can you go to the Bitcoin machine at the Shell there in town & get me a McDouble”
😅😅😅😅😅and then get me a huge family size BigMacMeal....some one tried me through PayPal it was an Indian accent I hung up and they sent me a text looked just like PayPal...but it didn't have there correct number...so I knew I sent them a text back that said STOP SCAMMING Folks.
“You big dummy!”
~Fred G. Sanford
they tried doing that to me, posing as the Interpol. also sent me a warrant through text 😂
Scammers posing as deputies? As long as deputies don’t pose as scammers!!
Wow. does everyone in California has a criminal background for you to react that way to a call like this?
I always yelled those "Police Solicitors".😂
That's insane.
I almost got scammed by a guy posing to be a sheriff. He almost had me. They’re so convincing. I had issues and I thought that was the reason. I then had a moment when I said “you know what, let me hang up, if I go to jail, then so be it …” I was so young 🤣
So the caller tells her not to go home because they have deputies there to arrest her, but she doesn't think that was weird for him to tell her that? Also, the L.A. County Sheriff's phone number on the website is just one number in hundreds, if not thousands of numbers, that the Sheriff's department has. The chances of a deputy using that number to call her are slim to none.
someone remind me why we pay the state of california taxes again …?
...because of the threat of _actual_ fines and arrest?
I had a recording call me so I called the police and asked them directly. Turns out I was the first potential victim to complain/uncover the scam in the region. The recorded message isn't in the local language. Oops.
If that were ever to happen to me, I would just tell them that I prefer to go to jail and arrest me! That way they'll eventually have to give up and I call their bluff. It's what everyone needs to say to them!
Just tell them instead of paying the fine I'll do the time in jail.
Well what law enforcement’s doing about this! Are they too weak!
Answered before and said what is bit coin? And hung up
What a truly Lame way to present an urgency FOR MONEY: scammers.
Paying someone over the phone in and of itself a true sign of deception, and it’s rare anyone considered strangers would make/ask you to pay this way; and this is what should clue you in to something suspicious.
Good thing this lady would rather “surrender” than pay up 😂😂😂
I hope she’s healing now, because this was a close call it seems, especially if the scammers weren’t so greedy with the exorbitant amount quoted, I believe lesser amount she would have paid. Maybe the low-lifers were testing and would now quote lower on their next calls…..😩😩😩
That is very true because my sister which is 75 years old and sits in a wheelchair and have had four strokes, was terrified when she got that phone call. She started crying and she called me and told me and I told her it was a scammer, and it was, she knew she never been in no trouble. They had no warrant for her arrest, but she could not figure it out. She was so confused. and she lives in the that area in California
This is not a new scam. I had this kind of phone calls about 10 years ago and I just told them to come and arrest me. Just use common sense.
We never had to deal with this stuff when people had to pay to call someone.
Hello from North Carolina. It was a year ago when I got a call on my cellphone. The caller ID said New Hanover County Sheriff's Dept. The man claimed to be a deputy sheriff. He was very brusque and demanded I meet him that evening if I wanted to avoid being arrested for "avoiding jury duty." After several minutes I decided the call was suspicious and hung up. He tried to call back twice but I didn't answer. He finally gave up and didn't try again. No end to scammers 😮
I always tell them I will meet them at the police department
VOIP, sadly, allows users to enter their own (any) number to appear on call display. This is the single hole exploited to help most of these scams. Time for VOIP providers to close this hole in their service offering.
You can tell by their particular American accent
As a police officer, I want you all to come hear #johnnyx100. That is the LAW!!!! YOU MUST OBEY
*if they call you for money and you know you owe money then you know they already have your information because your information got sold.* 🤣
Tell them that you were recording them, see how quickly the call ends
I got a call a couple of years ago, and the guy was really aggressive. He had me concerned, but he said I was a Jr. which I'm not. I called the Sheriff's office and was told it was a scam. He apparently forgot that he called me, or didn't take me off his list because he called me again a few months later, and that time I was prepared for him. I told him he wasn't as anonymous as he thought he was, and he instantly hung up.
Who falls for this?
If you receive one of these calls, invite the scammer over to your house, then take care of business in a way that will prevent the criminal from committing crime forever.
I have noticed that if you answer the phone with a stern angry like voice, they will hang up and never call you again.
Since putting my phone number on my national do not call list, I have experienced a lot more spam and spoofing calls. I wish I never registered my number on that site. I have since changed my phone number and SIM.
Every news story from California just proves how much of a craphole it is.
It sounds like shes a little bit gulible.
I would love to personally get one of these scammer calls, especially the police trying to collect money. I'm a savage with telemarketers, it's the perfect way to practice advocating for yourself and learning how to be dominant on the phone and then it will come to you naturally in person. You can always hang up! Practice it's fun.
I'd say go ahead and arrest me, I'd be waiting than hang up.
Absolutely hilarious...
.... I Never Answer my phone....
...i don't care who is calling
... I just let it ring ⚡📞⚡
Hey, Mom says to pick up milk on the way home and that she's gonna drop your line from the family plan if you keep ignoring her.
I live for these calls, I can play with them all day long.
The IRS called me once and said they had a warrant out on me. Try harder.
Your friend was asked to be paid in bitcoins and she doesn't see the red flag?😮
Scammers depend on target’s fear shutting down their ability to think rationally. If you’ve heard about scams like this it’s less likely to work. Occasionally I get email subject saying “I hacked your computer.” Even though I know it’s scam there’s still a micro second of fear before reason kicks in. I delete them without opening.
Unless its for freind or family never use bitcoin or paypal. Mostly used by scammers
Great, could you redirect those squat cars to my work address instead, my shift ends in an hour.
😅
do not ever answer a phone call and give any information only call numbers yourselves
Thankfully, I would never have the money if they called and demanded me to send it.
I wouldn't have the money if I was standing in court in front of a judge, and he was demanding $300.
I guess I'd be going to jail.
Perhaps I should set up a Gofundme for myself.
Yea right 😂
Just never answer the phone, thats a better idea. if its someone you know or important they'll leave a message.
🔥@KTLA, So how do we as a community tell the real ones from the fakes?
You don’t answer the phone.
It happened to my mom last year. And this year
She paid?
If she got their bitcoin acct number, she should withdraw from their acct... lol