Phone Scam Alert

PSA - Phone Scam Alert

Recently, the Franklin County Sheriff's Office was contacted by several citizens and made aware of a potential phone scam in our area. In these cases, the suspect caller would pose as an employee of the Franklin County Sheriff's Office who informs the citizen they have confidential court or legal matters that must be resolved. All of the reported calls came from blocked or unknown numbers on the caller ID. If the suspect caller left a voicemail message, the call back number provided by the suspect caller was found to be disconnected. In one reported case, the suspect caller was able to call back with a spoofed phone number that looked like it was actually from the sheriff's office.

In many cases like this, the suspects will try to solicit for personal identifying information or, in other cases, request electronic payments for bogus legal charges, fines or fees. Fortunately, none of the reporting parties in these recent cases fell victim to the scam.

The sheriff's office will never call you to request payment in lieu of charges. We strongly urge citizens to never provide personally identifying information over the phone unless you are certain to whom you are giving the information and it is for legitimate purposes. If you ever have concerns or suspicions whether you are actually speaking to an employee of the Franklin County Sheriff's Office, you can call the business line (636) 583-2560 and ask to verify with a supervisor or command staff member.

Any citizen that is a victim of identity theft or fraud within the county may make a report with the Franklin County Sheriff's Office.

Sheriff Steve Pelton