The Cass County Sheriff’s Office is alerting the public to a new scam that’s arrived in the Fargo-Moorhead area.
Sheriff Jesse Jahner says an individual fell victim to a scammer posing as a Cass County Deputy. The scammer told the individual that an incarcerated family member qualified for the Community Supervision Unit ankle bracelet monitoring program, and requested electronic payment before participation could begin. Jahner says unfortunately, this individual did send payment to the scammer.
"We always are advising people, like we do with anything, that if someone calls you and makes those kinds of requests that you take it upon yourself or initiate a call back, to in this case, it would be our agency the Cass County Sheriff's Office, just to verify that that information is correct. You never know where that phone call is coming in from, and nowadays people are able to spoof numbers, which means they can replicate numbers from a business, or like from our office, so it looks like our office is calling because they can spoof the number. So it's easy to fall victim to these scams, especially since the request is coming from someone posing as a law enforcement officer, so that puts additional fear into someone. They don't want to get in legal trouble."
Jahner says the Cass County Sheriff’s Office does offer alternative corrections, which do include ankle bracelet monitoring and 24/7 monitoring programs. But Jahner says payment for those programs are only accepted in cash or by money order in person at the Cass County Jail. He says they will never solicit electronic payments by phone.