Scammers Use Bucks County Sheriff Office To Target Victims
A copy of a fake warrant. The real victims name has been taken out and the authors cat’s name has been inserted in it’s place.
by Alex Lloyd Gross
August 16 2022
You may get an email or a piece of mail with paperwork from the Bucks County Sheriff. They are telling you that there is a warrant for your arrest and it can be settled for $500.00 or other amount. It’s a lie. There is no warrant, there never was.
According to Lt. Chris McMullin from the Bucks County Sheriff’s Office, “It starts with a phone call. People are told they missed jury duty and are asked for an email to confirm the summons. They are also sent a copy of the warrant, which has a fake seal on it. The seal is from Montgomery County,” McMullin said with a laugh.
“People want to get this to go away, they will pay, and these scammers will send out hundreds of these things a week. If they get two or three people to reply, they get a dent bit of money”, McMullin said. Mcmullin also said that the scammers are using spoofing software to make the phone call on the caller ID look like it’s coming from a legitimate source. This software can make a number read like the White House ( for example) and the person taking the call could believe the caller is legitimate. So when the “Bucks County Sheriff’s Office” is calling, and the number is displayed, most people would believe it’s a legitimate call.
Fred Harran, Sheriff of Bucks County said in a statement “We don’t send letters asking for payment, that’s not how this works”. A person with a warrant will be visited by the sheriff, taken into custody, and a judge will determine the fine or make payment arrangements with the person.
Fines are paid in cash, check or money order and sent to an address that anyone can find on Google Maps. That address will be a courthouse. Not a police station, or PO Box. Fines are never paid in gift cards. Ever.
If someone gets correspondence regarding an arrest warrant, they should look up the phone number to the office that the warrant is for.. (215) 348-6124 is the number for the Bucks County Sheriff. They will tell you the truth. Never call the number sent on the paperwork. When you call, speak with someone there that can tell you the status of the warrant. Make sure you speak with someone from a number you looked up and dialed yourself.
The scary fact of this scam is that people all across the United States are being contacted. It does not matter if they never stepped foot in Bucks County.