The Bradley County Sheriff’s Office said it wants the community to be aware of a scam that is targeting residents in Cleveland/Bradley County.
Officials said, "The caller and/or message will identify themselves as an employee of the Bradley County Sheriff’s Office Civil Process Division, and demand for a number not associated with our agency to be called immediately.
"In the event these fraudulent calls are received, residents should never give their personal or financial information over the phone. The Bradley County Sheriff’s Office will never solicit methods of payment and/or personal identifiers over the phone. Additionally, all arrests performed by the Civil Process Division are done in person, never on the phone and the individual is brought to jail to comply with the designated court’s demand. Any suspicious calls regarding a civil process should be directed to 728-7390 for verification.
"Unfortunately, this community is targeted frequently with various scams, and it’s our agency’s duty to alert the public once a fraudulent scam has been validated. We encourage residents to visit our website at www.bradleysheriff.com, and click on the “IMPOSTER SCAMS” tab. This informational page provides a list of the most-common scams, preventative tips, resource links to report a specific scam, and a government resource directory."
Sheriff Eric Watson stated, “The best practice for a suspicious phone call is to hang up and immediately call the Bradley County Sheriff’s Office to validate if an outstanding civil process exists. If the suspicious call is repeated, advise the caller you are going to report the calls to law enforcement, and usually the caller will become agitated and hang up. We are optimistic this scam alert will diminish the possibility of a person falling prey to a scammer, and give residents knowledge to pro-actively protect themselves.”