By Mary O’KEEFE

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Dept.-Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station released a warning to residents about a person/s who have been calling the public stating they are a member of the LASD. The imposter allegedly tells victims they need to pay a specific amount of money to avoid being arrested.

“Our station, nor any other law enforcement agency, would [never] request a payment over the phone to avoid an arrest. Never give your personal information, credit card number or banking information over the phone unless you have verified the identity of the caller,” according to the CV Station.

CV Station’s Sgt. Johanna Armstrong said this scam is similar to the IRS scam where imposters would call victims and threaten them with arrest due to “non-payment of taxes.” They would threaten to send someone to the victim’s home; however, this is not how the IRS conducts business.

“Now the [imposters] can spoof phone calls,” Armstrong said.

This means the caller identification on the phone can either read LASD or can read someone the victim may know so the call appears to be legitimate, she added.

“The imposters can be very persuasive,” she said.

Armstrong said she received these types of scam calls and attempted to get as much information from the scammers as she could.

There is another scam when someone will call a victim and threaten to release “revealing” photos. Even if the victim has never had these types of photos taken, some victims are concerned that through AI [artificial intelligence] these types of photos could exist. This type of AI threat recently occurred with deep fake photos of singer Taylor Swift.

Victims pay to keep the photos from being released.

These scams can be extremely complicated and intense. The imposters are very good at finding ways to frighten victims and then play on those fears.

A few weeks ago, a woman came to the CV Station and reported she had been contacted by a person who stated he was from Amazon and that fraudulent activity had been found on the her credit card that was associated with her Amazon account. The imposter provided a contact for the victim for what he said was the Federal Trade Commission. The victim called the number she was given. That imposter said an individual had access to her Social Security number and instructed her to send a copy of her California driver’s license to him via email. She did and he instructed her to contact the Dept. of Motor Vehicles and the Social Security office to obtain a new driver’s license. She was then advised, by the imposter, to go to a bank and withdraw funds. She was told to meet an individual who would, apparently, help her with a new license and Social Security card. She followed instructions and met a man/suspect, described as an Asian male, on Foothill Boulevard in La Crescenta where she gave him the money.

The imposter was so convincing that the victim was afraid he would try to find her. She went to the CV Station and while she was there received another call by another imposter. The deputy was able to overhear the phone call. The imposter asked if she knew a certain individual; she did and she was then told her that person had been arrested. She was told to go to the bank and withdraw more funds to keep the individual out of jail. She was told to then mail the funds to an address that would be would provided later.

The victim left the station. She was concerned and afraid, still believing the imposter may be real. She was still willing to get the money and mail it; however, the deputy was able to convince her this was a scam and helped her block the callers from contacting her again.

Armstrong reminded community members that the station can be called any time and to call if they are concerned they have been contacted by a scammer.

“[Law enforcement] is never going to ask for money over the phone,” Armstrong said. “And no one is going to call you and tell you there is a warrant [out in your name].”

If someone states s/he is a deputy from the local station and there is a doubt, call the station at (818) 248-3464 to verify, according to LASD.