Hear the message from an insidious new phone scam by someone posing as a NSO employee
Here at the Norfolk Sheriff's Office, we've issued many warnings about scammers posing as NSO employees trying to scam vulnerable residents into sending them money for one reason or another.
Recently, a resident received such a message, but this time the caller didn't mention any specific threat, but simply told the recipient of the call that he had "some confidential legal matters" to discuss with them and that they should call back to a specific phone number that is NOT the one he's calling from.
You can hear the actual message HERE (Note that we've bleeped out the last name of the person who received this message and reported it to us):
Here's the transcript of what he said:
This is Lieutenant Snyder with the Norfolk Sheriff's Office making initial call for Donna (redacted). Mrs. (redacted) I need you to contact me back at your earliest convenience. I do have some confidential legal matters to discuss with you. You can reach me directly at 757-699-9153. Again, that's 757-699-9153.
The recipient of this message wisely did NOT call the number provided, but instead reported it to us. Presumably, if they had called the number back, the scammer would have tried to con them into sending him money.
Note that this phone number has NO association with the Norfolk Sheriff's Office, and was NOT the number which showed up on the recipient's caller ID.
When our Officer-in-Charge (OIC) of the Consumer Protection Unit called the number back, “Lt. Snyder” answered. The OIC identified himself and confronted the scammer, at which point he hung up.
As a reminder, the Norfolk Sheriff's Office will NEVER use a phone call to request money.
If you have received a call like this, DON'T CALL THEM BACK! Instead, please contact the Norfolk Sheriff's Office's Consumer Protection Unit to file a report.
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