Officials with the Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office today (Friday) said on their social media page that they have been “Notified from a resident that they received a telephone call from someone reportedly with the ‘Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office’ telling them that there was a warrant for their arrest for not showing up for jury duty.” The caller is said to be a “Lieutenant Vansberry.” During the telephone calls some names of actual Court House employees and actual Deputies are being mentioned. The number the scammer is calling from is 712-209-6266, but this number can be spoofed or changed depending on who is calling.

This is a SCAM! No member of the Sheriff’s Office is making these phone calls. This is yet another scam attempt by someone with far too much time on their hands. Why do they do this? Because sometimes people unknowingly fall for these scams.

Scammers will usually bait the unsuspecting recipients of the call into thinking there may actually be a warrant for their arrest. The scammer will then ‘work’ with the person to ‘clear’ up the issue if they pay some sort of fine. The caller will also request that the caller provide a cell number, if they were reached on their home phone, so that the caller can stay in constant contact with the victim. The main reason they want to stay on the line is so that they can walk the person through the process of purchasing a gift card or payment. This also helps the scammer verify that the victim does not speak with anyone else who may warn the victim that this is a scam.

Don’t fall for this SCAM!