The Howard County Sheriff’s Office dispatch has received several calls over the past few weeks in regards to an on-going telephone scam. The scammer is identifying themselves as Captain Buckley of the Howard County Sheriff’s Office and is either soliciting for a made-up cause or informs the person that they are wanted, or have missed court, or some other fictitious reason. Usually, the scammer requests payment in the form of gift cards or western union transfers.
Sadly, there have been multiple people who have fallen victim to this scam and thousands of dollars lost that we know of. Initially, this scam was thought to be localized to the Howard County area. However, this week, we received reports from Ft. Wayne and Plainfield of the same thing happening in their jurisdictions. Neither myself nor anyone from the HCSO will call you and request money or gift cards for any reason. This includes donations, arrest warrants, tax warrants, etc.
Although 99.9% of these scams are foreign based and difficult for law enforcement, you are still encouraged to call your local law enforcement agency or the HCSO at 765-457-1105 to let us know they are occurring so that we can warn others.