Scammers posing as county, court officials to steal IDs

JEFFERSON COUNTY – A pair of new identity-theft scams by con artists claiming to represent government offices have surfaced in Jeffco, prompting an alert from the Sheriff’s Office.

In one scam, a caller contacted a local automobile repair business and claimed to be an investigator for the Sheriff’s Office. The man told an employee of the business he was investigating identity thefts that may have involved the repair shop’s customers and convinced the employee to provide contact information for three customers that owed the largest debts to the shop, according to Mark Techmeyer, spokesman for the Sheriff’s Office.

“The employee, convinced the caller was an investigator, provided the information,” according to Techmeyer.

The scammer then contacted the customers and said he represented the repair shop and offered them discounts if they paid the bill over the phone by providing a credit card number. None of the customers accepted the offer, according to Techmeyer.

In the second scam, a caller claiming to represent the Jeffco court system called a local resident saying the courts had been trying to reach her to update her personal information in order to send a jury notice.

The victim complied and provided all her personal identifying information, only to learn later that the courts never call to request such information.

“The Sheriff’s Office urges all the citizens and businesses in Jeffco to be cautious in providing any personal information to anyone over the phone,” Techmeyer said.