The Monongalia County Sheriff’s Department (MCSD) is warning the community of a new phone scam.
According to MCSD, the department has recently received numerous calls regarding a scammer who is using the name Lt. Douglas or Capt. Steve McRobie.
The caller says they are from the Mon County Sheriff’s Department and states they need to speak with you about a citation and/or a civil matter and ask for a payment to resolve the issue.
As with previous scams of this nature, Sheriff Perry Palmer reminds the public that the sheriff’s department does not and will not call you to ask for money over the phone.
Recent reports to MCSD indicate the scammer is calling from a 254 (Texas) area code but leaves a callback number with a 304 area code.
According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), scammers can make any name or number show up on your caller ID. This is called “spoofing.” So even if it appears to be a government agency like MCSD calling or the call is from a local number, it could be a scammer phoning from anywhere in the world.
Scammers will often ask you to pay in a way that makes it hard for you to get your money back. Many times, they will insist that you can only pay with a gift card; cryptocurrency; a payment app like Venmo, Zelle and CashApp; or a wire transfer service like Western Union or MoneyGram.
If you have received a call from someone you believe to be a scammer, you can report the information to local law enforcement as well as the FTC. The FTC takes scammer phone numbers reported by the public and releases them each business day.
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