Spring seems to be the season for scammers. A local law office was used as a prop for a perpetrating a hoax for money.

Late Friday afternoon the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office submitted a statement saying  a large volume of citizens reported that someone claiming to be a Sergeant with the Sheriff’s Office has called. The premise was a failure to report for jury duty and law enforcement action would be a consequence.

In the press release the scam was described as follows:

A message is left on the potential victim’s home phone from “Sgt. Bradley” with the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office. When the potential victim returns the phone call, a recording states that the caller has reached the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office. It states operating hours are from 8:00AM to 8:00PM. The recording asks the caller to leave their name, phone number and a detailed message and a deputy will get back with them. The recording even goes as far as stating that if this is an emergency, to dial 911.

The phone call is then returned to the potential victim by “Sgt. Bradley.” He instructs the person to go to a large retail store and put a certain amount of money on a debit-type card and threatens to obtain an arrest warrant if this is not done.

There is no Sgt. Bradley at the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office. The callers are using the threat of arrest to convince people the call is legitimate and to obtain money cards.

If you receive this type of call, please contact your local law enforcement agency and/or the South Dakota Consumer Protection Division at 1-800-300-1986 or consumerhelp@state.sd.us.

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