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A telephone scam is rapidly-spreading through east-central Wisconsin with Manitowoc County now reporting its residents being targeted by a carefully-crafted scheme.
Earlier this week, the Sheboygan County Sheriff reported people receiving scam calls from operators using so-called “spoofing” equipment that makes their phone call appear as if coming from the real non-emergency number of the Sheriff’s Office, with impersonators using real names of the Sheriff and others in the department. A day later the same style scam operation was reported out of Winnebago County. Now, Manitowoc County is out with a similar report.
The scammers claim to be informing the target of a warrant that can be settled, and arrest avoided, by a payment using the cryptocurrency “Bitcoin”. As in other counties, Manitowoc authorities emphasize that no legitimate law enforcement agency contacts people over the phone for collection, and would never use Bitcoin or gift cards as payment. People should hang up on such calls, contact the real department if you have doubts, and if you’ve made a payment, contact local law enforcement immediately.
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