Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Office Warns Public of Imposter Scam
Photo: Stock Image
“We want to warn the public about an imposter scam. We recently took two reports of theft by false impersonation of a U.S Marshal that began as a phone call or email and ended with suspect(s) physically coming to the victim’s address to collect money.
The victims in the cases were initially contacted about an “Unauthorized” transaction with one victim contacted by e-mail and one by phone. Both victims were instructed to call a number if the transaction was unauthorized.
When the victim’s called the number they spoke to someone about the alleged fraudulent transaction before being transferred and told their social security number had been used fraudulently. Both victims were then transferred to an “Austin Sawyer,” who claimed to be with the U.S. Marshals.
Both victims were told they were being investigated for crimes including wire fraud, money trafficking, and drug dealing and threatened with prosecution and arrest by U.S. Marshals for criminal charges out of Texas. The victims were told they could send money to the Marshals in lieu of arrest or to investigate the case on their behalf.
One victim reported the scammer asked them to confirm the authenticity of the call by visiting the U.S. Marshals Service website. The victim did this and reported the number the suspect had called on matched the number listed on the US Marshals webpage. This technique is called “Spoofing,” when a scammer uses technology to appear to be calling from a legitimate number.
Both victims were instructed to withdraw cash and place it into an envelope. Both victims reported suspect(s) drove to their home to collect the cash. In one case there were two men driving a silver Kia Sedan on Friday 10/25/24 around 12:45 in the afternoon in the Phoenix Lake area. One of the men was described as appearing to be Indian or Arabic and said his name was “Biveck.”
In the other case the money was collected on two occasions, Wednesday, and Thursday, 10/30/24 and 10/31/2024 by a “Young man,” driving what was described as a white sedan, around 2:30-3:00pm on the Columbia side of Italian Bar Road. The man was described as approximately 20-30 years old and “Spanish,” looking.
Both of these cases are actively being investigated. If you have been a victim of this scam or know anything about the identity of the suspect(s) involved in either of these cases, we urge you to contact Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Office at 209-533-5815.
We want to remind the public, law enforcement agencies WILL NEVER ask you to pay money to avoid arrest.
We want to remind everyone, as a general rule, never utilize a phone number provided to you by an organization or person you are uncertain of. If you are at all unsure about the information being presented to you, the best practice is to look up the number for the business/organization and call them directly to confirm.
Scammers use many tactics to sound and appear credible. They sometimes provide information like badge numbers, names of actual law enforcement officials, federal judges, and courthouse addresses. They may also spoof their phone numbers to appear on caller IDs as if they are calling from a government agency or the court.
Please take the time to discuss scams and how to keep yourself safe from scam attempts with your loved ones, especially those who are more vulnerable to falling victim to scam attempts.”
