Hennepin County residents warned about scam callers impersonating police

The Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) has issued a warning to residents after receiving multiple reports claiming they’ve received phone calls from scammers posing as law enforcement.

According to the sheriff’s office, in some cases, calls appear to be coming from legitimate HCSO phone numbers. These callers are telling residents that there is a warrant out for their arrest because they missed a federal court appearance and are in contempt. The scammers then tell residents that they’ll be arrested unless they pay a fine. Victims are encouraged by these scammers to purchase prepaid money transfer cards, such as MoneyPak, call the scammer back, and read them the numbers on the cards.

In several reported instances, HSCO says the scammers have claimed to be employees of the sheriff’s office, including Sheriff David Hutchinson. The HCSO and other law enforcement agencies will never contact individuals via phone or email to ask for any kind of payment. If individuals receive such a call, they should not provide any personal information or make any payments to the caller.

Anyone who believes they have been victimized by a scam caller should record the caller’s number, save any voicemails that may have been left by the caller and contact their local law enforcement agency.

In addition, individuals should not rely on caller ID or recorded messages to verify the origin of a phone call. Scammers have become sophisticated in their use of technology, according to HSCO. In some cases, police say they use "spoofed" numbers to make it appear as if they are calling from a legitimate law enforcement or government agency number. Scammers have also been known to create fraudulent recorded messages that identify their number as originating from law enforcement.

If anyone is uncertain about the identity of a caller, they are asked to hang up the phone, locate the official phone number of the agency and call the number directly.