Warning about Police Ticket Scam

A new scam circulating in the area is people calling claiming to be with law enforcement and stating that you have a warrant or ticket that you need to pay to avoid being arrested.  Scammers prey on your emotions and try to get you worried about something in order to steal your money.  Clayton Police Chief Andy Strait says law enforcement will never call you requesting that you pay them money.  “If you get calls from us saying we have warrants or we have tickets that you need to take care of, hang up on them, and call us.  We will be glad to explain everything to you.  Chances are that if you don’t remember getting a ticket, you probably didn’t get a ticket.”  Scammers always like to ask for payments via gift cards, adds Chief Strait.  “The big thing that I always tell everybody when I’m talking about scams, the big red flag is they ask for gift cards.  They always ask for gift cards as payment.  That is the big sign that this is a scam.  Just hang up on them.  Nine times out of ten, we can’t track where they are coming from because they use these scrambling systems on their phones and computers.”  Another good tip is to screen your calls with caller ID and only answer calls from people you know.