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State police say convicted sex offenders are being targeted, threatened in new phone scam

Progress-Index - 6/2/2021

The Virginia State Police issued the latest of its "be-on-the-lookout" warnings for telephone scams Wednesday, but this time, the audience being targeted is convicted sex offenders.

State police said the scammers apparently are getting contact information from the Virginia Sex Offender Registry and calling the convicted offenders threatening them with possible arrest and coercing them into paying hundreds of dollars in gift cards or other types of online transactions to the caller as a means of paying fines.

The caller is posing as a police sergeant and is "spoofing" caller ID systems to make it appear as if the call was coming from either a state or local police department.

"State and local law enforcement will not call an individual to request payment of a fine or for a warrant," VSP said in a statement. "If you receive such a call, hang up and contact your local law enforcement agency or the Virginia State Police."

A department spokesperson said registered offenders in the metro Richmond region seem to be the most targeted by the scam.

According to state police, the caller tells the person to pay the fine through a eGift cash card or similar payment to a specified account or name. Often, the scammer will "pressure, threaten and be verbally abusive" to the person being called.

"These scam artists use prepaid phones and many times are not even in the jurisdiction where the crime occurred, making their apprehension difficult," VSP said.

State law prohibits the use of information from the sex-offender registry for intimidation or harassment purposes. Anyone caught doing that can be charged with a Class 1 misdemeanor.

Complaints are also taken by the Federal Trade Commission which works with state and local authorities to close down phone scams. The number to call for complaint is 877-FTC-HELP (382-4357). Complaints may also be issued online.

Bill Atkinson (he/him/his) is the news director of The Progress-Index, located in his hometown of Petersburg, Va. He is also the breaking-news coordinator and has been known to "nerd out" over political news coverage and history. Contact Bill at batkinson@progress-index.com, and follow him on Twitter at @BAtkinson_PI, and subscribe to us at progress-index.com.

This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: State police say convicted sex offenders are being targeted, threatened in new phone scam

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