LISBON, Ohio - The Columbiana County Sheriff’s Office has issued a warning about telephone a scam going around.

According to the sheriff’s department Facebook page, the scam involves a caller claiming to be a deputy with the Columbiana County Sheriff’s Office.  The caller threatens to arrest the victim if they don’t provide them with money.   The caller ID is showing up as Columbiana County Sheriff’s Office. 

The sheriff says the caller is not from his office and cautions would-be victims not to give the caller money or any personal information.

In recent months, the U.S. Marshals Service and FBI have reported several nationwide imposter scams involving individuals claiming to be U.S. marshals, court officers, or other law enforcement officials.

During these calls, scammers attempt to collect a fine in lieu of arrest due to a claim of identity theft, failing to report for jury duty or other offenses. They then tell victims they can avoid arrest by withdrawing cash and transferring it to the government, purchasing a prepaid debit card such as a Green Dot card or gift card and reading the card number over the phone to satisfy the fine, or depositing cash into bitcoin ATMs.

Scammers use many tactics to sound and appear credible. They sometimes provide information like badge numbers, names of actual law enforcement officials and federal judges, and courthouse addresses. They may also spoof their phone numbers to appear on caller IDs as if they are calling from a government agency or the court.

People are urged to report the calls to their local FBI office and file a consumer complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, which has the ability to detect patterns of fraud from the information collected and share that data with law enforcement.