By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Scams continue to plague area residents and Buchanan County Sheriff Bill Puett doesn’t see it letting up anytime soon, if at all.
Puett says a disturbing trend he has seen is the number of scam calls falsely pretending to be law enforcement officers or the courts, threatening people with jail time if they don’t fork over money.
“And that’s why the scams where they use our name or the courts or whatever becomes so scary, because they’ll call and they’ll say, ‘This is Sgt. such and such, you have a warrant, you’ve got to call, you’ve got to do this, you’ve got to do that’ and people are scared to death, because they’re threatening them with their freedom and their liberty,” Puett tells host Barry Birr on the KFEQ Hotline.
Puett experienced the trend first-hand when he received a call from someone claiming to be him, threatening him with jail time if he didn’t pay a fine.
“He goes, ‘We’ll put you in jail.” And I said, ‘Let me get this straight.’ And then I said, ‘You’re going to put me in my own jail.’ Then he had some really bad words for me and then hung up on me.”
Artificial Intelligence, AI, also threatens to make scam calls even more deceptive with its realistic portrayal of images, even voices. But the way to avoid getting ripped off remains the same.
Puett says though technology might make scams even more deceptive, your approach should remain the same.
“Never give anybody your personal information over the phone or anywhere unless you have instigated that call.” Puett advises. “If somebody calls and says they’re with the sheriff’s office or they’re the IRS or they’re with whatever say, ‘Hey, I’ve got your information, I’m busy,’ whatever. Terminate the call and then check into it.”
Puett also says not to use the phone number someone gives you over the phone. He advises to look up the phone number yourself and make the call.
Puett says Midwesterners can be more susceptible to such scams, because they tend to be polite and don’t want to offend anyone, even a stranger on the phone. Puett says residents need to be firm, less polite, and more skeptical when fielding a call from a stranger.
You can follow Brent on X @GBrentKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.