PAINESVILLE, Ohio — The Lake County sheriff is sounding the alarm.
“Phone scams are being used across Lake County,” said Sheriff Frank Leonbruno.
The sheriff said over the last week, Lake County residents have received phone calls from someone claiming to be several different sheriff’s department deputies.
“These people are spoofing our phone numbers, making them appear as if he is calling from inside the Lake County Sheriff’s Office,” said Leonbruno.
“On Friday, three people showed up here, this was after a week of these calls coming in. Today, we’ve been flooded with calls,” explained Leonbruno.
For days impostors have been pretending to be several deputies, including Lt. Bryan Bowen.
“I’ve had people come in person to the courthouse asking or looking for Lt. Bowen, we just got off the phone with him and they’re kind of shocked to see I’m standing right here and sound nothing like the person they talked to over the phone,” said Lt. Bryan Bowen, Lake County Sheriff’s Office. The Sheriff took to Facebook to try and get the word out, posting about the scam. But still the calls kept coming.
“We need to get this information out to a lot of people because people’s life savings are being taken,” said Leonbruno.
The scammers use different names and stories about legal issues, but ultimately, they ask for money by pretending to be from the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
“The Lake County Sheriff’s Office nor any police department, nor any court will ever call someone and tell them they owe money, bring in the money, pay the money over the phone. Government doesn’t work that way,” he said.
If you are ever contacted by someone claiming to be a law enforcement officer and are suspicious about the request or demands being made, tell the caller that you will be contacting their agency to confirm the nature of the phone call and be connected in a more secure fashion, the sheriff said.
