The Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department has issued a warning through the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station about scammers impersonating deputies while calling people to demand payment of fines for failing to respond to jury duty summons or outstanding warrants.

Many of the victims targeted by the scammers are elderly and all of the victims were coerced into making payments in the form of gift cards, Bitcoin or pre-paid credit cards out of fear of arrest, sheriff’s officials said.

The scammers often use the names of real LASD personnel.

The scammers have also pretended to be from other government or law enforcement agencies.

People are urged not to comply with a demand for payment by telephone, email or other means of communication from anyone claiming to be an LASD employee. The LASD will never ask for payment over the phone or by email.

People are urged not to feel pressured by a threatening caller. Hang up and verify their story through an independent source, not contact details provided by the impersonator.

Never send money or give bank account, credit card or personal information to anyone you do not know or trust, including date of birth or social security number.

A government agency or trusted business will never ask for payment by unconventional methods such as gift or store cards, Apple gift cards, wire transfers or Bitcoin, sheriff’s officials said.

Officials are asking local residents to keep the following tips in mind:

No legitimate police agency will ever ask you to verify your information over the phone. You should never provide your social security number, address, middle name or any other information to anyone calling you.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department will never demand an immediate payment in lieu of an arrest. Often times, scammers will use the sense of urgency to rush you to make a payment, threatening to arrest you if you don’t pay immediately. That is not how we work.
You will never be asked to pay for any legal matter with a Western Union account, prepaid card, ITunes card or any other form of pre paid card.

If you ever receive a call from anyone identifying themselves as a peace officer, make sure you ask for their employee number and what station they work out of. You can search for the public telephone number for that station and call back. Do not call the number provided to you by the caller, this may be part of the scam.

The LASD is investigating and encourages anyone who has been a victim of these calls, been contacted by these scammers, or has any information on the scam urged to call the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station at (661)260-4000 or Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477.