PHONE SCAM ALERT-MISSOURI RESIDENTS

December 05, 2016

“Civil Processing Unit” Call Scam

There’s a surefire way to make your scam victims pay up, and that’s to pose as the police.

Who Is It Targeting: Victims in a specific police jurisdiction located in Missouri

What Is It: Phone scam that claims to be from the “Civil Processing Unit”

What Are They After: When you get a phone call from the Greene County Sheriff’s Department Civil Processing Unit, you’d better be prepared to explain why you’ve failed to pay an outstanding parking or speeding ticket, failed to appear in court for your charges, or other related offense.

There’s just one problem: Green County doesn’t have a Civil Processing Unit. But that hasn’t stopped a scammer from contacting citizens and demanding overdue payments over the phone. The scam has become so widespread that the Sheriff’s Department has had to issue an alert about the scam, warning people that it’s fake.

How Can You Avoid It:

If you’re contacted by any law enforcement agency, government organization, or other similar entity, be aware that you will never be required to submit payment simply due to a phone call.
Any legitimate fees or fines will be sent to you via postal system so that you have a mailed paper trail of the issue.
If you’re ever told that you must make immediate payment or that only certain forms of payment like wire transfer or prepaid debit card are accepted, it’s a scam.

If you think you may be a victim of identity theft, contact the Identity Theft Resource Center for toll-free, no-cost assistance at (888) 400-5530. Find more information about current scams and alerts here.

For full details of this scam check out this article from KY3.com.