LORAIN, Ohio — It’s the call that one Northeast Ohio police department wants everyone to hear.
Your Lorain County Reporter, Catherine Ross, tipped me off to the conversation that turned the tables on one unsuspecting scammer.
Here’s how the call started:
"How you doing? This is Captain Michael, Medina County Sheriff's Department warrant division. How are you doing," said the caller.
When you listen, you can catch a big red flag right out of the gate. The caller claiming to be with the Medina County Sheriff's Department didn't even pronounce Medina correctly.
On the other end of the phone was Jacob Morris, a captain with the Lorain Police Department.
"He was very slow to get to the whole you need to pay this amount of money to stay out of jail," said Morris.
The caller, who had no clue Morris was an officer, told him he missed jury duty and a warrant could be issued for his arrest. That is – unless he paid $2,400.
"Essentially it was pay me today, we'll suspend these warrants that are out there and you will get this money back so there's really no risk," said Morris.
The 16-year veteran of the Lorain Police Department told me that if he weren't an officer and familiar with the court system, he could see how easy it would be to fall for this imposter scam.
So, Morris pushed record on his personal cell to share the conversation and, in the process, give us an inside look at how these scammers operate.
Here’s what Morris told the scammer.
"I've been recording the whole time. So, I'll be sharing it with our local pages and, and all the agencies nearby. Hopefully, you don't scam anyone else out of any money. I don't know how you sleep at night, but I pray for you, man. I hope you can find a, a way to make an honest living instead of stealing," said Morris.
The call hit all the check marks:
- The scammer created a sense of urgency and fear.
- He wanted Morris to act fast.
- A bit of a plot twist to lend more credibility was the scammer's demand for payment.
“Ok, so due to fraudulent activity in the past, we no longer accept hand-in-hand payments for fines, rather than debit cards, credit cards, checks, money order, things of that nature,” said the caller.
After speaking with the man for about 20-minutes, Morris finally revealed his identity.
"Horrible scam, but better than most. I'm a police officer, you're full of s**t," said Morris.
I encourage everyone to check out the Lorain Police Department's Facebook page to hear more of the scammer's side of the conversation.
Morris told me the scams may be different, but the playbook and language they use are often the same.
