On at least two occasions in the past week, a scam artist has called Dalton residents claiming to be a Dalton police officer with a bench warrant for the arrest of the victim or a victim’s family member. On both occasions, the scammer requested money to have the warrant dropped.
The scam works like this: the scam artist calls the victim and identifies himself as an officer from the Dalton Police Department and tells the victim that there is a bench warrant out for his or her arrest. The caller tells the victim that if they load money onto a prepaid “Green Dot” credit card at Wal-Mart or another retailer that the warrant will be taken care of for his/her show of good faith. The victim is instructed to load the money onto the card and then give the card number to the scammer.
Officials said, "Under no circumstances will a law enforcement officer ever ask a member of the public to pay money to get out of a warrant. If an officer contacts anyone by phone about an outstanding warrant it will only be to give that individual instructions for turning themselves in on that warrant. Dalton Police officers do not take money from the public. Only the courts can handle paying fines."
If you have been contacted by this individual or have any information about this scam, contact Detective Chris Tucker at 706-278-9085, ext. 165 or Sergeant Matthew Locke at 706 278-9085 ext. 320.