Columbia County warns of scammers posing as deputies, telling victims to meet at Five Points Elementary to pay fines

COLUMBIA COUNTY, Fla. – The Columbia County Sheriff’s Office warned Thursday that scammers are calling residents, posing as deputies and demanding payment for alleged outstanding fines — sometimes instructing victims to meet a “deputy” at Five Points Elementary School to avoid arrest.

The office said the calls may refer to old crimes the recipient actually committed and include threats if the person does not comply. Caller ID can be “spoofed” to display the sheriff’s office phone number, the release said, so seeing the agency’s number does not guarantee the call is legitimate.

Signs a call is a scam

• The caller claims to be with law enforcement and demands payment for a “crime,” “fine” or “failure to appear.”
• The caller asks you to deposit cash into a Bitcoin ATM or send cryptocurrency.
• The caller asks for payment with gift cards such as Google Play, Apple or Visa gift cards.
• The caller requests personal information — Social Security number, bank account or debit/credit card numbers — to “confirm your identity.”

What to do

• Hang up. Do not call any number provided by the caller.
• Independently look up and call the agency’s official published number to confirm any legal matters.
• Check in on elderly family members or neighbors; scammers increasingly target older residents.

The sheriff’s office emphasized it will never call to say you are about to be arrested or that you owe fines payable directly to the agency. For questions about jury summonses or fines, contact the Clerk of Courts at (386) 719-7428. For other sheriff’s office matters, administration can be reached at (386) 752-9212.