Police warn of phone scams in Sussex County

SEAFORD, Del. – Officials are warning people about a phone scam where the caller is posing as a county sheriff’s deputy. During the call the scammer claims you have missed a court appearance and a warrant for your arrest has been issued. And in order to avoid arrest they must send them a prepaid gift card.
Meanwhile in separate scam, a grandmother in Seaford paid $5,000 after the caller claimed to be her grandson who had been arrested and needed bail money.
In light of the scams officials want you to keep some things in mind next time you answer the phone.

“If they ever tell you that you need to send them money so you can receive money that should be an immediate red flags. Try to get as much information as a kid out of them without providing any personal information of their own see if they can get names, where they want stuff sent to you, and the phone number to call them back on and then when you get off the phone with them call the police and report it so we can try and follow up on that,” said Senior Cpl. Eric Chambers of the Seaford Police Department.

Officials add that they normally don’t see a spike of phone scams during the holiday season.