KPD e-News Release: K.P.D. Issues Fraud Alert Due to Recent Resurgence of Arrest Warrant Scam

	Kingsport Police Department Dale Phipps, Interim Chief of Police 200 Shelby Street • Kingsport, TN 37660 http://Police.KingsportTN.gov • www.KingsportPDBlog.com
NEWS RELEASE
SUBJECT:		K.P.D. Issues Fraud Alert Due to Recent Resurgence of Arrest Warrant Scam
DATE:		January 19, 2021

GENERAL NARRATIVE
The Kingsport Police Department is once again stressing the importance of extreme vigilance against financial scams. One particular type of scam that has seen a resurgence in this area involves a scammer contacting the intended victim, purporting to be a law enforcement official, and alleging that the victim has an outstanding warrant for their arrest that can only be satisfied by paying a substantial monetary fine and/or court costs. The scammer will almost never accept traditional forms of payment such as cash, check, or credit card but rather demand that the victim obtain pre-paid money cards (Green Dot, My Vanilla, etc.) from a local store, often draining their life-savings in the process. The scammer will then require the victim to disclose the account numbers of the pre-paid cards over the phone, so that the fraudulently obtained electronic funds can be accessed remotely. Instances of this scam have recently been reported again to the Kingsport Police Department. In some of the previously reported cases, Detectives have been able to intercept a portion of the fraudulently obtained electronic funds and return them to the rightful owner. Unfortunately, however, this is often not possible and the money can be lost forever. These scammers are almost never local and are often located out of state or even in a foreign country. They cover their trail extremely well by using disposable “burner” phones with cloned telephone numbers, making tracing their origin difficult or next to impossible. The Kingsport Police Department continues to stress that legitimate law enforcement officials would NEVER operate this way. We would never extort payment to satisfy an outstanding arrest warrant. Moreover, no legitimate entity would EVER demand payment in the form of a pre-paid money card and refuse all other traditional forms of payment. While these scammers can be very convincing, citizens need to be alert to their existence. Anyone who receives this type of call should hang up and report the matter to law enforcement. If there is ever any question regarding the legitimacy of this type of call, people should ALWAYS consult an actual law enforcement officer and/or a trusted financial advisor prior to turning over any funds or personal information.