GRIMES COUNTY, Texas (KRHD) — Grimes County sheriff warns residents about phone scams targeting the area
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Phone scammers are targeting Grimes County residents, with some impersonating the Grimes County Sheriff's Office and threatening victims with jail time over missed jury duty.
Grimes County Sheriff Don Sowell said the scams are causing real financial harm to people in the area.
"My wife's aunt had got built in another county, elderly lady. Uh, in 2 or 3 hours, $42,000."
Local resident Jennifer Rymer described how the jury duty scam works.
"Now we've got this one where they're saying, hey, you know, you've got a jury duty, you didn't show up for it, you're gonna go to jail, you gotta pay this fee."
Another resident, Shirley Williams, said her daughter received one of those calls.
"Well, my daughter received that call and, uh, so she went to the police department and talked to them and they told her it was a scam."
Sowell said scammers use fear to pressure victims into handing over money.
"And people sit there and get paranoid about, well, I don't want to go to jail. I don't want to get fined, and they end up giving the money."
Residents say the calls happen frequently and come with intense pressure to pay immediately. Williams said she recently received a scam call about an account she does not even have.
"The latest one was about my Amazon account and I don't have an Amazon account."
Rymer said the calls are designed to create panic.
"You've got a fine if you don't pay this, you know, right now, you know, we're tracking your call and it just gets really urgent and very flustered and it makes the person on the other line feel like oh my gosh, I better take care of this."
Some scammers claim a family member is in jail. Williams said her family has a plan to guard against that tactic.
"We have a code word with our grandkids, so if someone calls. That's, you know, sounds like our grandkids or say they are, they have to give the code word."
Sowell urged anyone who receives a suspicious call to hang up and contact law enforcement directly.
"When in doubt, don't engage in a conversation. Call me first. Call the police chief in Navasota. Call the police chief in Todd Mission, call your constable, call somebody."
With technology and AI making scams more convincing, Sowell urged residents not to give out any personal information to anyone they do not know.
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