Warning to registered sex offenders, parolees or others out on bond. You could get robbed.

A coworker of mine (we'll call him Bill) who is a registered sex offender had a call on his cell phone from someone claiming to be an investigator with H.C.S.O., and he said it was pretty convincing. The guy started by saying he was on a recorded line and so on, then gave my coworker his legal name & address. Of course, that information isn't hard to find.

The guy said he was Deputy Scotsmith, an investigator with HCSO.

Then the guy said that a summons had been mailed for a DNA sample and the May 5th day had come and gone without an appearance.

"We've verified and your history is rock solid, you've been doing everything you're supposed to do, fully compliant… but you must have missed the summons and now there's an arrest warrant".

My coworker said he was sure it was a scam but was waiting for the caller to tell him to make a Venmo or Paypal payment or something, on line.

What happened instead, he says, is the caller said Bill needed to immediately go downtown to 1200 Baker Street, and turn himself in. He'd need to bring 2 forms of ID and be ready to submit a hair sample or blood sample, depending on a couple of variables.

Bill said he told the guy he'd go ahead downtown, and THEN the guy said he'd need to also post a bond of just under $4,000, gave an exact amount, and said it needed to be a cashiers check or money order.

He also specified that Bill needed to stay on the phone with him, not hang up, and remain on the phone for the whole trip downtown.

Bill told the guy he was going to mute his phone while he tells his boss he needs to go downtown, but instead he called a deputy at HCSO Sex Offenders Unit and identified himself. The deputy confirmed that not only is there no situation that would result in a summons for DNA anything like what was described, but also checked and told Bill he had no warrant.

The deputy went on to confirm that several sex offenders have been getting calls to come down to the S.O. unit on Mykawa after hours with cash to pay off a warrant.

The main reason Bill smelled a rat is that HCSO S.O. has his personal cell phone as the primary contact number, and the number the "deputy" called him on was a work cell phone that's the 3rd number in line of how HCSO should try to reach him.

It's also the main number that comes up for Bill if you search his full name online for a phone number, and he's aware of it.

I doubt the media will pick up on this since it's unlikely that a lot of sex offenders or parolees will report this type of attempted scam.

What's scary about this is the demand that the person go to a specific location with a cashier's check or money order. Seems like the guys behind this are intent on robbery.

TL;DR – Sex offenders are being told they have a warrant and have to go downtown with a money order.