(File Photo)

By Staff Reports

FORT PAYNE, Ala. — Over the last couple of weeks, the DeKalb County Sheriff's Office has warned the public of several scams. Late yesterday, the Sheriff's Office released a statement regarding yet another phone scam: 

The DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office has received numerous calls today concerning a scam phone call. The number calling is 256-273-5618. During this call a male advises the person that they are an investigator or Lieutenant Wilson with the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office and that they are calling because the person missed their summons for jury duty. The scammer then instructs the person to go to either Dollar General or CVS and purchase a green punch card, load $500 onto the card and bring it to the Sheriff’s Office or a warrant for their arrest will be issued.

Once you get the card they instruct you to contact them back at the above number for further instructions on where to send the money. If you call the above number it goes to an answering service that claims to be the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office and prompts you to press numbers for different divisions. This number is NOT the correct number for the office. This number is set up by the scammers in order to make the caller believe they are actually speaking to our office. This number is a VOIP number that could be based anywhere in the world with internet access.

DeKalb County Chief Deputy Michael Edmondson said, “I would like to remind everyone that the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office will never contact anyone demanding money. Please remember to never give your personal information to anyone over the phone. If you receive a call from this or any number with this same scam, hang up immediately and contact the Sheriff’s Office at 256-845-3801”