Scammers Still Trying To Dupe Benton County Residents

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, someone gets a call, the voice on the other end of the line is claiming that they are with a law enforcement agency and the person they just called is in trouble and has an outstanding warrant. 

The voice on the other end of the line offers some simple, yet immediate ways to address the issue at hand and keep someone out of jail. That is exactly what has been happening lately in Benton County as the Sheriff's Department took to social media last week to explain the issue. 

This one has a couple of different layers to it. First, the caller says that he is Sgt. Mike Kost of the Benton County Sheriff's Department. The problem is that there is no Sgt. Mike Kost with the Benton County Sheriff's Department, but the average person in Benton County might not know that. 

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The fictious Sgt. Kost is trying to get banking or financial information from the person they called. The Benton County Sheriff reminds you to never give this information to someone you do not know. This also includes the reminder to not buy gift cards and send to someone claiming to represent a law enforcement department, they don’t accept gift cards for payment. I guess people are still trying this one so it must be working every now and then. 

Secondly, in most cases, those who have outstanding warrants know it, or at least have a pretty good idea. Benton County Sheriff’s Officials remind through the social media post they don’t just give warrants out randomly. 

If you have been contacted or you are contacted by someone claiming to be Sgt. Kost or anyone from the Benton County Sheriff’s Department, you should call directly to the Sheriff’s Office yourself at 320-968-7201 and check on your status or file a report about the call you recveived with the folks on duty.  

Help spread the word that this type of thing is still going on, if no one falls for it then maybe this will just go away.