The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Department late Thursday afternoon said a scam in which a telephone caller identifies himself as being with the Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office has recently been reported. Sheriff Jeff Danker said two incidents have been reported where the caller identifies himself as Deputy Mark Adams with the Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office. The caller says the victim has a warrant and that if they do not call within a certain amount of time that Deputies would be sent to arrest them. The number that they appear to be calling from also correlates with actual Sheriff’s Office phone numbers.

Danker said suspects can sometimes create a fake caller ID to make the call appear legitimate. He added that authorities in Pott. County can officially confirm that “No employee with the name Deputy Mark Adams is employed with the Pottawattamie County Sherriff’s Office.” Danker said they have also received reports of several variations of fraud attempts, with some incidents having similarities.
A caller who claims to be with a business, utility company or law enforcement calls and claims that the victim is behind on a payment and will face some problems if they don’t pay immediately. The caller tells the victim to purchase a money card and call back with the card number.

In recent months officials have taken reports where callers claimed to be from MidAmerican Energy, the IRS and a law enforcement official that arrested the victim’s family member. As a reminder Law Enforcement will NEVER demand payment by phone and reputable companies generally don’t demand money card payments.