03/28/2024
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Bladen County Sheriff James McVicker is warning the public about several phone scams being seen in the area.

“We are getting reports from citizens who are telling us they are getting calls from someone pretending to be a United States Marshall saying they owe the IRS money or that they missed jury duty and have to be arrested unless they pay a fine immediately,” McVicker said in a news release.

“The caller wants the victim to go purchase gift cards for a certain amount of credit on them and then mail the cards to them or some even want the victim to go to a Wells Fargo location and wire them money.

“Whether they claim to be US Marshalls who have to arrest you because you missed jury duty or because you owe the Internal Revenue Service money please know this is a scam. The United States government will never call you and try to scare you into making a payment. No federal, state or local government works that way. These are just people trying to dupe you out of your money. The best thing you can do is just hang up.”

McVicker suggests passing along the information about reported phone scams to friends and neighbors. Also, the Sheriff said that if you are not sure about a call, ask for a call back number and a person to ask for and then hang up and call law enforcement.

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