Scammers spoof Manatee County Sheriff’s Office website

Reporter: Rich Kolko Writer: Jack Lowenstein
Published: Updated:
Credit: WINK News.

There is a new weapon for scammers targeting people’s money: They’re spoofing sheriff’s office websites.

How it works: Crooks get someone on the phone, tell them they missed jury duty, and direct them to the sheriff’s website to pay a fine. It sounds convincing, but it’s a scam — one that the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office hasn’t seen before.

“We haven’t seen that spoofing yet with one of our websites, so it was a little bit of a shocker,” said Lt. Robert Andrews.

It’s a good fake. The scammers did their homework, adding names of real employees, some retired, as well as some current Manatee sheriff’s office photos.

Andrews says the con artists call people demanding payment online.

“Threatening people that they violated their probation,” Andrews said. “The other was a civil process that you had to pay.”

The scammers will also tell an individual their social security number is being used for fraud and they need to pay to clear it up.

A lot of these scams work on greed and fear. Obviously, this one is the fear of being arrested.

The sheriff’s office believes the cybercriminals are likely based in Europe. While MCSO arranged for the website to get taken down, the phone calls continue.

The Florida Sheriffs Association said this scam hasn’t hit elsewhere in Florida yet.

“I’m sure it’s just a matter of time before it happens to someone else,” Andrews said.

If you get a call, look up the number for the sheriff’s office yourself and call and confirm.

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