RAINBOW CITY, Ala. (WBRC) – Police in Rainbow City say scammers are now pretending to be their police chief and they’re trying to steal your money.
To make it seem legitimate, they say the scammers are also sending some of you fake court documents.
Rainbow City Police Chief Camp Yancey says he’s not happy with what he calls a breach of the public’s trust.
“This lady reported to our detective in our patrol division that someone had contacted her from our police department, talking about a jury summons that she didn’t show up for and that she was going to be held in contempt,” said Yancey.
She even received a call from someone impersonating Chief Yancey that raised a red flag and piqued her suspicions.
“When that unknown person impersonating me, when they called that lady, they actually spoofed their phone number. So, when she got the phone call, it came from a Rainbow City phone number, but she was very quick on her feet to recognize that, hey, something’s not right here,” said Yancey.
Chief Yancey says it’s hard to track scammers because a lot of them originate in prisons or outside the country, where there’s no jurisdiction, in many of these cases.
“That’s why public education is so important, where we get stuff like this out so that people know when scams are happening. This one is a judicial scam, a lot of times it will be “pay your toll fees” scam. It’s so important for us to stay on top of that,” said Yancey.
With many irregularities on the jury summons and receiving a hard time on the phone from scammers, Chief Yancey says the potential victim knew something was wrong and reached out for help.
“When someone that’s intimidating a peace officer of any kind, a deputy, a police officer, detective. That really starts undermining the whole public trust. That may undermine, they may start questioning the real officials at that point,” said Yancey.
Chief Yancey says if you feel like you’re being scammed or something doesn’t seem quite right, you can contact the Rainbow City Police Department, and they will investigate the situation for you.