Citizens have called the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office reporting they were contacted to take part in a scam asking for money on behalf of the sheriff’s office.
A perpetrator claiming to be Col. David Huckstep, the chief deputy at ACSO, demands money from the caller, according to an ACSO media release.
The scam is well put together and is presented professionally, ACSO spokesperson Brett Rhodenizer said.
The scam is so thorough the perpetrator has spoofed the non-emergency number to ACSO’s Combined Communications Center, according to the release.
By spoofing the phone number, it can appear on a victim’s caller ID as an administrative number from ACSO starting with 352-955 or 352-367, Rhodenizer said.
Reports from citizens started coming in Friday and some have already become victims of the scam, ACSO spokesperson Art Forgey said.
“We see this from time to time, scams like this and other ones,” Forgey said. “We tell people that if you get a call from someone saying they are from the Alachua County Sheriff's Office and they are threatening arrest, that is not how we do things and they should hang up immediately.”
The scammers are not targeting anyone specifically and there have not been any leads, Forgey said.
If there are any questions, the sheriff’s office can be reached at 352-955-1818.
Follow Devoun Cetoute on Twitter @devoun_cetoute and contact him at dcetoute@alligator.org.
