EATON COUNTY, MI — Eaton County residents have once again found themselves in the sights of a scammer posing as law enforcement, police said.
Throughout the month of February, the Eaton County Sheriff’s Office received several fraud reports in which the suspect has claimed to be a sergeant with the department, police said.
The suspect, a unknown man, has told his victims they have a warrant out for their arrest, and they need to purchase prepaid Green Dot credit cards and read the card number to the “sergeant,” police said.
“These are so unfortunate, because once that money is gone, it’s gone — we can’t recover it,” said Eaton County Sheriff’s Captain Mark Wriggelsworth. “Prosecution of these cases is extremely hard. It’s hard to even locate a suspect.”
The sheriff’s office wants to remind residents that it will never contact citizens telling them they have warrants, or ask for payment over the phone, Wriggelsworth said.
Earlier in 2022, Eaton County was similarly targeted by a phone scammer posing as a sheriff’s deputy asking for Bitcoin.
Due to the difficultly of finding the suspects who pull off these scams, Wriggelsworth said police are unsure if these cases are related.
RELATED: Police report ‘significant uptick’ of scam calls in Jackson, Lansing area
Police are urging local residents to not fall for this scam.
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