By Nathaniel Smith, Editor

Do you receive calls promising to reduce your credit card interest rate, but they “just need some information” to proceed? Perhaps you have received text messages from “UPS” claiming there is an issue with your package, and you just need to “click the link to resolve the problem.” Or maybe, “an agent from the FBI” has called you claiming a warrant exists for your arrest, but you can make it all go away by paying a not-so-small fee. If any of this sounds familiar, you are certainly not alone. Scam, or spam, calls are constantly on the rise, and one is even posing as a trusted local authority: the Washington County Sheriff’s Department (WCSD).

Over the past several days, WCSD has received multiple calls from citizens in the county regarding a caller falsely posing as an officer within the department. Specifically targeting family members of newly incarcerated detainees, the scammer(s) claims that the family needs to directly send them payment for a “bond” or “fee” in order for the detainee to be released.

“Our deputies will never call family members of inmates and ask the family member to pay a bond or fee to release them from jail,” said Sheriff Brent Miller. “The only way inmates can bond out of jail is for someone to physically come into the Washington County Sheriff's Department and post the inmate's bond.”

If you receive a call such as this, or any scam call in general, the best response is to refrain from providing any information and immediately hang up the phone. Additionally, the Washington County Sheriff’s Department encourages citizens to spread the word about this new scam and to be cautious when answering unknown phone calls.