I usually ignore calls marked as "potential spam," but accidentally answered one about a week ago. A fellow with a thick accent told me he was with the Sheriff's Office and had a warrant to bring me unless I paid him thousands of dollars. As someone who has been arrested numerous times for unpaid parking tickets, I knew exactly what to say.
"Get in line!" Then I hung up.
Actually, since moving away from the skyscrapers of Nazareth's bustling downtown, I've received no parking tickets. So aside from the spam designation on my caller ID, I Knew the call was bullshit. But many people my age and even younger are a bit more gullible.
NorCo DA Steve Baratta has issued a news release to say his office is investigating numerous scam calls that are supposedly from the Sheriff's office. In those calls you are informed you failed to appear for a court date (that's the only kind of date I get), and you have to pay a certain amount of money. This will be returned of you show up at the next date.
As scams go, that's a bad one. A good scam appeals to our greed. This one is aimed at guilt, which probably appeals most to Catholics.
In any event, the Sheriff's office wants you to know it is not a collection agency and would not call you this way.
