{"id":19608,"date":"2025-10-01T07:11:04","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T12:11:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/?p=19608"},"modified":"2025-10-01T08:06:51","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T13:06:51","slug":"19608","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/19608-19608\/","title":{"rendered":"Local Law Enforcement Warning About Scams Where Officers Are Asking for Gift Cards to Pay Off Warrants"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"pdfprnt-buttons pdfprnt-buttons-post pdfprnt-top-right\"><a href=\"javascript: window.print()\" class=\"pdfprnt-button pdfprnt-button-print\" target=\"_self\" ><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/plugins\/pdf-print\/images\/print.png\" alt=\"image_print\" title=\"Print Content\" \/><span class=\"pdfprnt-button-title pdfprnt-button-print-title\">Print<\/span><\/a><\/div><p>The Effingham Police Department is alerting the public about an ongoing scam involving individuals impersonating police officers from our Department. Scammers, identifying themselves as specific Effingham Police Officers, are contacting residents by phone, claiming there is an active warrant for their arrest because they missed jury duty. The callers then instruct victims to pay a fine immediately with gift cards to avoid being taken into custody. There is also a new twist on this old scam: the scammers are offering to meet at a local random location in person so you can pay the \u201cfine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Effingham County Sheriff&#8217;s Office has a similar item posted on their Facebook page.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese calls are designed to scare people into acting quickly without thinking,\u201d said Deputy Chief Tom Webb. \u201cWe want the community to know that no legitimate law enforcement officer will ever demand money over the phone or threaten arrest in this way. If you get one of these calls, hang up and report it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The department reminds residents:<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Police will never ask for payment over the phone<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Effingham Police Officers never handle money for fines &#8211; fines and fees are only<br \/>\nhandled through the Effingham County Court System<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 If you receive a suspicious call, do not provide or confirm any personal or financial<br \/>\ninformation \u2013 HANG UP immediately<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Caller ID can be \u201cspoofed\u201d to make it appear the call is coming from a real agency<br \/>\nnumber<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis scam has been reported in communities across the state and across the country, and the best defense is awareness,\u201d Deputy Chief Webb added. \u201cBy talking with family, friends, and neighbors, you can help prevent others from becoming victims.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Effingham Police Department encourages residents to remain vigilant and reminds the public that legitimate officers will never request payment over the phone. Anyone who receives such a call should contact their local Police Department or Sheriff\u2019s Office to verify and report the incident. Effingham Police Department\u2019s non-emergency number is 217-347-0774.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Effingham Police Department is alerting the public about an ongoing scam involving individuals impersonating police officers from our Department. Scammers, identifying themselves as specific Effingham Police Officers, are contacting [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Local Law Enforcement Warning About Scams Where Officers Are Asking for Gift Cards to Pay Off Warrants - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/19608-19608\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Local Law Enforcement Warning About Scams Where Officers Are Asking for Gift Cards to Pay Off Warrants - 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