Letter: Sheriff warns of phone scams

Published 12:02 am Friday, December 7, 2018

The Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office urges local citizens not to be fooled by phone scams that are beginning to surface in the local area once again. The caller is requesting payment for failure to appear for jury service or failure to appear for court.

The sheriff’s office has knowledge of two local citizens who have been scammed recently after receiving a phone call regarding a court appearance. The scammers can make the call appear to be a local 706 area code, when the caller may actually be out of state or out of country.

The courts, judges, clerk of court offices and law enforcement do not make phone calls requesting payment of any type. The caller will go as far as to identify a particular judge or deputy to convince the call recipient of the legitimacy of the call.

Please do not provide any personal information and do not send any kind of payment. When in doubt, simply hang up and call local law enforcement to clarify an questions.

Sheriff Scott Chitwood

Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office