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Sheriff warning of scam involving jury duty, BBB seeing tax, other scams

The Lucas County Sheriff's Office and Toledo Police are warning area residents of a scam after an area resident was scammed out of more than $1,000.

TOLEDO, OH (Toledo News Now) - The Lucas County Sheriff's Office and Toledo Police are warning area residents of a scam after an area resident was scammed out of more than $1,000.

Toledo Police say a male called the woman on Monday and claimed to be from the Sheriff's Office. The man told the victim she had failed to show up for jury duty. When the victim said she had not been notified of jury service, the caller said she could explain that to the courts.

Police say the woman asked if anything could be done to avoid that. The scammer told the woman to load $500 on to a green dot card and send it to the Sheriff's Department, and also got the woman's credit and debit card numbers, according to Toledo Police. One he had those numbers, the man took more than $1,000 from the victim, police say.

The Sheriff's Office says any call like this is a scam.

"We would never be calling people to ask for money or we wouldn't go knock on their door to ask them for money. We simply wouldn't ask for money whatsoever," said Lucas County Sheriff John Tharp.

Joyce Reed says she almost fell for the scam.  She says the scammer was extremely convincing.

"He's got answers for everything. He gave me the case number, the dates, his supervisors name, he gave me his badge number," said Reed.

Reed says the man even stayed on the phone with her while she drove to the store to get a green dot card.

Luckily, Reed says she ran into someone she knew at the store. He called the Sheriff's Office and found there was no warrant for her arrest.

Tharp says if you get a call like this, hang up, record the caller's phone number, and call police.

The Better Business Bureau warns they've gotten reports of several types of scams, including this one. They're also hearing about a scam where crooks file your taxes and take your return. Click here to learn how to avoid becoming a victim of that scam.
Other scams to be on the lookout for:
Netflix scam
Online dating scam
Prescription drug scam
One ring phone scam

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