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Sheriff’s office warns of convincing phone scam

The Cook County Sheriff’s Office issued a warning on Friday, April 29, of a telephone a scam where the caller identifies as a sheriff’s office employee and tells victims they’ve missed jury duty or have outstanding citations and must pay money to rectify the situation.

The caller states that if the victim makes a payment using Zelle — a money transfer app — the victim can be assigned a judge who can hear their case. An email address is provided to the victim to send the payment.

The caller uses the name of an actual sheriff’s office employee, so an Internet search might make it appear the call is legitimate. The call is a scam. The sheriff’s office never has staff call to ask for payments to be made over the phone.

Anyone who believes they have been a victim of this scam is asked to call the sheriff’s police at 708-865-4896 or the non-emergency number at 847-635-1188.

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