WASHINGTON – It’s a scam. But this one is more intimidating than others.
The calls, at least six of them in Loudoun County in the last week, come from someone claiming to be Lt. Mike Stevens of the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office. The caller tells the person who answers the phone that there is an outstanding warrant or fine against them and if they don’t pay up, the sheriff’s department will send out someone to arrest them.
Victims are then asked to send money either by wiring money or by buying a pre-paid Green Dot card and then supplying the caller with a PIN number.
Loudoun County Sheriff Mike Chapman says there is no “Mike Stevens” working for his department and the department would never operate that way.
“It’s a very threatening phone call and we really are concerned about this,” he says.
Chapman says the department is trying to catch the crook.
“Sometimes it’s not quite that easy with the way voiceover IP works and so forth, but we are working to try and identify who this person is,” he says.
It’s unclear where the caller might be operating from.
Chapman says fines are handled by the courts, not by sheriff’s deputies. If you get such a call, Chapman says you should report it to the real police.
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