The La Plata County Sheriff’s Office has received numerous reports of scammers calling residents, posing as deputies and duping them into buying cryptocurrency.
Sgt. Chris Burke said the Sheriff’s Office has received 15 reports of fraud, with one resident being deceived into handing over $1,000 to scammers. Burke said a pattern emerged with each report as scammers asked victims to purchase cryptocurrency.
“We want folks to know that the Sheriff’s Office will never call and ask for cash or for you to go to a kiosk of any kind, whether it’s a crypto kiosk or any other type of wire transfer kiosk,” Burke said.
Burke said the scammers repeatedly identified themselves as either Lt. Slade, Patrick Slade or Michael Slade, referring a former employee.
“They can gain, through public records, different names of deputies and even spoof the Sheriff’s Office phone number to make it look legitimate,” Burke said. “There are no more Slades are at the sheriff’s department. Michael Slade was a captain in the jail several years ago and is no longer at the Sheriff’s Office.”
One targeted victim, who spoke on the condition of anatomy, said she received a phone call from a number she did not recognize. She initially ignored it, but the caller called back several more times, so she picked up.
“The guy represented himself as from the sheriff’s department,” the victim said. “He indicated that I had missed jury duty that morning, that the department was following up because, basically, since I didn’t show up that I was in violation.”
The woman was skeptical at first, but the scammer knew both her full name and her home address, she said. She then thought she may have missed a summons and almost believed the scammer, who asked her to verify her signature at the Sheriff’s Office.
“He said, ‘Well, we need you to come down to the sheriff’s department to do a signature verification,’” she said.
She was almost out the door when she noticed something odd about the deputy, who she was still speaking with on the phone. What gave it away was that he mispronounced “La Plata County,” saying instead “La Play-ta,” the woman said.
“That was also an instant indication that he wasn’t who he said he was,” she said. “Before anything could even be said further, the guy hung up.”
She later learned that her son received a nearly identical phone call later that day, and that, thankfully, he hung up as soon as the caller asked for money.
“Luckily, they didn’t get any money from either of us,” she said. “But they’re extremely convincing. They instantly make you think you’re in trouble. And they give you information about yourself so it gives credibility to their scam.”
A Sheriff’s Office Facebook post said the department will never call and ask for money. That is a tell-tale sign of a scam.
“The scammers sound convincing,” the post said. “Hang up your call with them and PLEASE do not send cash of any amount.”