A rash of scam calls has hit Lauderdale County, and residents are asked to be vigilant and spread the word about suspicious calls, Sheriff Ward Calhoun said Thursday.

Calhoun said scammers are posing as deputies, sometimes using the names of real law enforcement officers and tricking caller ID into showing the number as coming from the Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Department.

“We have been inundated by citizens who have become victims or have received phone calls from the scammers of our world who will present themselves as being Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Department deputies,” he said. “I am asking for everyone in our community to make sure they share with everyone in their family, their coworkers, their friends, their neighbors. We need to make sure the word gets out.”

Although the specifics of the scam changes, Calhoun said most of them are similarly structured. The scammers will first create a problem, such as a fine owed for missed jury duty, he said. Then, they will create an urgency to get the problem resolved, like a warrant being issued if the fine is not immediately paid. Finally, they offer a quick, easy solution.

“Scams are pretty simple simple. They create a problem, and they give a solution for you out of this problem, and they create urgency for you to do it immediately,” he said. “That is the common thread in all of these scams. Don’t fall for them. Please, don’t fall for them.”

Over the past few days, Calhoun said, approximately $30,000 has been stolen from county residents using these scams.

One red flag, Calhoun said, is a call from someone claiming to be from a law enforcement agency demanding payment of a fine. That just doesn’t happen, he said. Even federal agencies like the Internal Revenue Service and Social Security conduct business via the U.S. mail and will not call about fines.

“Know that no one in law enforcement is going to call you and tell you that you have an outstanding warrant or that you’ve missed jury duty, and that to rectify this problem, you must immediately pay a fine or you will be arrested. We’re coming to get you,” he said. “It is a scam. It is a scam, and multiple people in our community have fallen for this over the last several days.”

The first line of defense against scammers are residents themselves, as LCSD is limited in what it can do to stop them, Calhoun said. Many of the scammers are not local and are often not based in the United States.

“You have to be your first line of defense, and you do that by being very skeptical of whoever you’re talking to,” he said.

Anyone who has fallen victim to the scam calls can contact the Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Department, Calhoun said, and deputies will make a report and assist them in reporting the incident to the Federal Trade Commission. Reporting the information to the FTC could help investigators build federal cases against the callers.

“I know there are victims out there that haven’t reported, and I hate that this has happened to anybody in our community,” he said. “If you’ve been a victim, contact us. We’ll do a report for you and show you what you need to do to report it to the federal government.”

Unfortunately, Calhoun said, recovering residents’ money is unlikely to happen.

For more information about telephone scams, how to spot them and what to do, visit consumer.ftc.gov/articles/phone-scams.