Phone scammers successful in S. Tahoe

The South Lake Tahoe Police Department and El Dorado County Sheriff’s Department received several phone calls last weekend from residents someone called saying they were identifying a specific individual from one of the agencies.

Residents were told that they had warrants out for their arrest for failing to respond to a jury summons. The callers were then told they could avoid arrest if they purchased “Green Dot” prepaid money cards and provided the code numbers to the caller. The callers used the names of local judges, court clerks and officers.

Many community members were scammed out of thousands of dollars.

This is one of many hoaxes involving law enforcement. Law enforcement agencies do not call people and force them to pay money to avoid arrest, nor do they demand payment to keep people out of jail or to free them from jail.