Falls County sheriff warns community of scammers posing as law enforcement officers

FALLS COUNTY, Texas (KWTX) - Falls County Sheriff Joe Lopez on Friday, June 2, warned his community of scam callers falsely identifying as law enforcement officers - even using fake badge numbers and deputy names - after a resident was duped out of nearly $3,000.

The first victim received a call from the suspect caller who claimed the victim had forgotten to appear for jury duty, and that a warrant for his arrest had been issued. The suspect caller said he would be arrested shortly, or he could pay a certain amount of money for the problem to be solved.

The victim deposited $2,900 to the location instructed by the caller. Later in the day, he received the same call from the suspect asking for more money to be deposited. The victim became suspicious and reported these calls.

“I asked him, ‘why did you do that?’ and he said, ‘He sounded so professional. He quoted some of the penal code book to me, so I thought he was an actual law enforcement officer in this county,’ and so he went with it,” Sheriff Lopez said.

Following the first scam call, there have been four more reported calls in Falls County and another in Waxahachie, Texas.

The callers tell residents that a warrant has been issued for their arrest because they failed to appear in court. These residents were also told they needed to deposit money to a specific location to avoid an arrest. These calls were reported and none of these individuals paid the requested deposits by the suspect caller.

“Luckily, out of the 5 of those calls, only one made the mistake of going through with it, but they’ve all indicated the individual who called sounds professional and sounds like he knows what he’s talking about,” Sheriff Lopez said.

Lopez says he wants the public to know that law enforcement would never call a resident and inform them of a warrant for arrest. He says they would certainly not ask for an X amount of cash to be deposited at a certain location.

“If they ask you for money so they can fix the problem for you, that right there should tell you, hang up,” Sheriff Lopez said.

Lopez says if you have received a call like this, call your local law enforcement agency to report the call to help locate the suspect caller or group of callers.