Law enforcement officials in multiple Northeast Georgia jurisdictions are reporting phone scammers posing as authorities.
Both the Flowery Branch Police Department and the Jackson County Sheriff's Office issued social media posts in the past two days outlining scams that have been reported in their areas.
In Flowery Branch, police officials say multiple residents have called to report scammers posing as law enforcement or court officials telling the targets that they have been selected for jury duty or have missed jury duty. Officials said in both cases, the scammers will try to coax the victim into paying fees or giving out personal information including Social Security numbers and credit card numbers.
"Law Enforcement agencies will not contact you by phone and ask for personal information such as your Social Security number, date of birth, or credit card numbers," The post said. "If you receive one of these phone calls, do not provide any personal or confidential information to these individuals. This is an attempt to steal your identity or defraud you."
In Jackson County, sheriff Janis Mangum said scammers have been targeting the families of people who have been arrested and booked into the county jail.
"Someone is calling their family and telling them that bond has been set and that they can pay the bond over Venmo or Cash App," Mangum said in a video included in the post. "Please do not fall for this...hang up and call the jail because that's not how we operate."
Mangum said some of the callers are also telling family members they can pay the bond over the phone, which Mangum said is also not correct. In some cases, family members were asked to pay as much as $3,000.
"People are losing money by sending this to these scammers. We're investigating this to see if we can find who it is," Mangum said.
