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Officials say to look out for scammers claiming to be with the Bell County Sheriff's Department

Posted at 9:47 AM, Oct 19, 2018
and last updated 2018-10-19 11:49:21-04

The Bell County Sheriff's Department said they have received ten cases in the last two months of scammers impersonating department officials.

The cases include one of two scenarios:

  1. The scammers will call a potential victim claiming to be a sergeant with Bell County informing them of missing jury duty. The scammers then say the victim will have to pay a fine.
  2. The scammers claim to be an investigator with Bell County saying the victim is a suspect for check fraud and must pay a fine.

In both cases, the scammers ask the victim to buy gift cards from various stories and call back to an "800" number. Once the victim calls, they give the scammers the information on the gift cards as a form of payment for their "fines."

In some cases the department has received, the scammers will say the payment did not go through and tell the victim they need to get another gift card and call back. 

The scammers often threat to have an officer come to the victim's house for their arrest.

The sheriff's department said the number scammers call from is local to Bell County. 

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