Police warn of phone scam targeting SLO residents

The San Luis Obispo Police Department is asking citizens to be on alert for a common scam: phony calls from people claiming to be law enforcement.

In the scam, the victim receives a call from someone pretending to be law enforcement. They either tell the victim that they missed jury duty, received a citation and now have a warrant for their arrest; or they tell the victim about a family member who’s been arrested and needs bail money, police said.

The scammer then tells the victim to pay the fines using PayPal or Green Dot cards.

Police said they have received several complaints about the scam in the past few weeks.

Courts and law enforcement agencies never ask citizens to pay fines using this type of system, nor do they ask for payment over the phone. People who receive these types of phone calls should call local law enforcement before sending money or providing prepaid credit card numbers to anyone, police said.

Anyone with information about the calls are asked to contact the SLO Police Department at 805-781-7312 or CrimeStoppers at 805-549-7867.

This story was originally published December 11, 2017 at 9:30 AM with the headline "Police warn of phone scam targeting SLO residents."