Winnebago County authorities credit an alert citizen with avoiding a very costly mistake after they recognized an attempt to steal thousands of dollars.
The setup was an often-used tactic, a phone call from an impersonator claiming to be, in this case, “Joseph McBride” from the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office. The scammer claimed the citizen missed jury duty and that a warrant was issued for Contempt of Court. The caller instructed the person to come down to the department for signature verification claiming that the citizen was served a month ago. But before they could arrive at the Sheriff’s Office to resolve the matter, the scammer tried to get the victim to first withdraw $3,000 from their bank in order to purchase a voucher.
Becoming suspicious, the victim asked where vouchers are sold. After either a Kwik Trip or Walgreens was recommended, they hung up on the scammer who left a voicemail threatening that deputies from the “Winnebago County Police Department” were en route to make an arrest.
For what it’s worth, neither Joseph McBride nor a Winnebago County Police Department exists, and $3,000 did not make it into the wrong hands.
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