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Lafayette Parish Sheriff's Office warns of scam calls impersonating officers
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LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) -- The Lafayette Parish Sheriff's Office is urging residents to be aware of phone scams involving people impersonating law enforcement officers.
Valarie Ponseti, with the Lafayette Parish Sheriff's Office, said their office has been made aware of a scam where scammers are calling citizens telling them they have an active warrant and that they need to make a payment in order to get it resolved.
"What we want to let everyone know is that the sheriff's office and most all law enforcement agencies that I'm aware of are not going to contact you by phone for any form of payment, so that should be your first red flag."
Ponseti said scammers are often asking for forms of payment that are not traceable like bitcoin and reloadable visa gift cards.
She said it's difficult to recover any funding from these types of scams because of the nature of the types of payments made and that it's important to make sure you call the sheriff's office or any law enforcement agency to confirm if the person on the phone actually works for them.
"The first thing I advise in that moment is to go ahead and break contact with that person, hang up the phone, pick your phone back out perhaps, and give us a call and report it to us."
People are reminded to be more cautious as it gets closer to the holidays and if they suspect they are being targeted, call the Lafayette Parish Sheriff's Office at 337-232-9211 or any local law enforcement agency.