A call from the Marion County Sheriff’s Office could be serious, especially if warrants are involved. However, a rash of false calls have been going out to people across the county, according to officials.
“We have been receiving calls that someone claiming to be Chief Deputy Zach Miller with the sheriff’s office is calling about warrants for their arrest,” Capt. Pete Williams said. “The person has personal information and has stated that Judge Gwen Broom signed the warrant. The person is advising to get a money order for bond and drive to the courthouse and meet Lt. Anderson. This is a scam. The sheriff’s office doesn’t serve warrants by phone and these names are not employed by the sheriff’s office.”
Chief Deputy Jamie Singley acknowledged that the calls are becoming more frequent. In December, Singley warned of a scam where people were contacted and asked to take care of warrants over the phone.
“It even shows up as our number,” he said. “But we’re not going to call you and tell you that you have a warrant. Even if we did, we wouldn’t ask you to pay it over the phone. It’s not our practice to do that.”
Singley said people who actually have warrants or need to pay fines would pay at the Marion County Justice Court.
“We’d never solicit you to pay over the phone,” he said. “We have several people checking into these scams.”
Williams and Singley urged those who have been contacted by scammers to call the sheriff’s office at (601) 736-5051 or dispatch at (601) 736-2711.
“If you’ve been contacted by someone claiming to be from our office who wants you to pay over the phone, let us know,” Singley concluded.
