Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office warns of scam

A warning from Santa Cruz County law enforcement Friday. After a suspicious letter was sent to a man last week, trying to blackmail him out of thousands.

The sender threatening the man to pay $3600 or else a secret he’d been keeping from his wife would be revealed. There was just one problem –

“This gentleman did not have a wife so he knew immediately it was a scam and he contacted us to let us know that this was going on,” said Sergeant Brian Cleveland with the Sheriff’s Office.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the only scam the Sheriff’s Office says it’s monitoring.

“Especially coming up in tax season, right now people will be targeted and told that they have back taxes and the Sheriff’s Office or other people will come to arrest them, that’s not true,” Cleveland said.

Other scams they’re warning people about include ones that target the elderly.

“[They’ll] ask them to pay different fines and everything in gift cards, Green Dot gift cards or iTunes gift cards,” Cleveland said, “That’s just not a normal form of payment.”

No matter the scam, the Sheriff’s office says it’s critical that you let them know about it, even if you’re told not to call the cops.

“It’s always good for us to know about them anytime someone tells you not to call the cops, it’s for a reason,” Cleveland said, “They’re trying to either extort money out of you, they’re trying to do things that are fraudulent or illegal.”

The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office says to follow them on Facebook for alerts on scams you should be on the lookout for.

They also encourage you to spread the word about these scams to those you think may be vulnerable.