Scammers are currently calling residents in Nacogdoches County and impersonating Sheriff Jason Bridges. Scammers are identifying themselves as Jason Bridges, Sheriff of Nacogdoches County and then advising our citizens that they have a failure to appear in Court for failing to appear for Federal Jury duty. The scammers use intimidating tactics to convince and scare people. They try to keep people on the phone the entire time and threaten them not to hang up, and tell people they are under mobile surveillance. They are asking people to get large amounts of money and go to a cash kiosk machine, they will then give them a 10-digit code, the scammers state that it is a federal Id code, but in reality, it is a code for them to retrieve the money. The scammers are also using other names of well-known supervisors who work for the Sheriff’s Office. The Scammers are doing their homework and also know the names of other elected officials in our county. The callers are using several different numbers, but in one instance at least, they made the number of the Sheriff’s office appear on the caller id, but then they would give the caller another number to call back on.
It is important to know how technology is developing, Criminals are becoming more sophisticated and more convincing. Despite scammers having more tools at their disposal, it is always important to know that Federal or State Government entities will never call you on the phone and demand money or try to intimidate you. We will never ask you to put money on a card or into a kiosk. If you have missed jury duty, you will not be called and threatened to pay a fine. Any contact by Government agencies will largely occur by mail to your home address.
If anyone calls you representing themselves from an entity of Nacogdoches County and demands money and also threatens to arrest you, I can assure you that it is a scam. If you receive a call like this, please hang up and call our Nacogdoches Dispatch at 936-559-2600 to report this.