HAMILTON COUNTY, Ind. — The Hamilton County Sheriff's Department said phone scammers are targeting people posing as members of the sheriff's department.
One Fishers mom, Emily Good-Perkins, said she bought close to $700 in gift cards because she thought she was about to be arrested for missing jury duty.
"The person on the phone was speaking quickly, but he sounded very official," Emily recalled of the phone call she got this past Tuesday.
It sounded so official that Good-Perkins said she believed the caller when he told her to do what he said and not hang up.
"Basically, he said, 'You have to stay on the phone with me. You're not allowed to mute it or hang up because if you do, two policemen will come and arrest you immediately,'" Good-Perkins recounted.
Good-Perkins explained she was even more convinced because it appeared the call was coming from the Hamilton County Sheriff's Department.
"So that was in my head the whole time, that this is legitimate," Good-Perkins said.
What the mom of three didn't know was that scammers can use an app to make it look like they're calling from a certain number.
"I went into this state of, 'What am I going to do? I have to follow what he's going to say,'" Good-Perkins said.
She said the man told her he had a paper with her signature on it showing that she agreed to jury duty. To clear it up, she had to go buy close to $1,000 in Target gift cards.
"What he said was, 'Once you purchase them, you'll bring it down, and if we verify that your signature is not the one we have, then we'll reimburse you,'" Good-Perkins said.
So that's what Emily says she did, keeping the man on the phone right until the point she had the gift cards in hand and was about to give the caller the numbers on the cards.
"Now as I say it, it sounds ridiculous. But it's like when you're in this state of panic, I'm afraid that two police officers are going to come arrest me," Good-Perkins said.
But when she went to read off the numbers on the cards, she couldn't see them.
"I went back in to ask the manager to help me and that's when he hung up," Good-Perkins recalled.
Just about that time, Good-Perkins got a text from her neighbors, warning her they got the same kind of call, and it was a scam.
She said the man even called her back and left a message, saying she needed to provide her location.
Good-Perkins never called him back.
The Hamilton County Sheriff's Department said they've heard from several residents recently about similar phone calls, explaining that they've received so many that they're about to put out a public service announcement warning people about the scam calls.
The sheriff's department said they would never call people and ask for money or gift cards, and advised people to be suspicious of urgent requests like the one Good-Perkins got.
"I'm still kind of reeling from it honestly, the fact that I allowed that to happen to me," Good-Perkins said.