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A cell phone with a phishing alert is shown in this AdobeStock photo

Douglas County residents have been reporting a variety of scams to law enforcement in which the scammers have been posing as those same law enforcement agencies to try to swindle money from people.

On Thursday, the Lawrence Police Department warned the public on social media that residents had received calls from people claiming to be officers who were asking for money for various reasons. The scammers used Lawrence police officers’ real names.

The department advised that it never calls residents asking for money regarding legal matters. If residents do receive a call in which someone claiming to be an officer requests money, or any other suspicious call, the department asks residents to write down the caller ID if possible and to call Douglas County dispatch at 785-843-0250 and report the call. The department emphasized that people should never send money.

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office has also been sounding the alarm regarding scams all month, including some that have been using the names of real Douglas County deputies.

One such scam targets people who are on the Kansas offender registry for violent, drug and sexual offenders, according to a post on social media. In this scam, the caller claims to be a deputy and says the person answering has failed to fulfill their offender registration requirements. The scammer says that an arrest warrant has been issued and that the person will be arrested if they don’t pay the scammer.

In another telephone scam, the impersonator claims to be working on behalf of the court and informs people that they have missed jury duty and will need to pay a fine to avoid being arrested. The Journal-World previously reported about this type of scam a year ago, but the sheriff’s office said recently on social media that it is still being reported in the community.

Residents who believe they may have actually missed jury duty should call the Douglas County Jury Coordinator directly at 785-832-5213.

Phone scammers will often start by getting as much personal information from a victim as possible before asking them to purchase a gift card or to give up their credit card information.

Scammers aren’t just targeting people by phone, either. The sheriff’s office has made posts about scams conducted by mail and email where the senders claim to be from the federal government. The sheriff’s office shared a document that a community member had received — it was made to look like a federally issued document alleging that the person missed federal jury duty. At the bottom of the document, the scammers demanded payment through an online money transfer app like Zelle or Apple Pay.

One Douglas County resident fell victim to this type of scam recently and paid $1,000 before realizing what was happening, said George Diepenbrock, spokesperson for the sheriff’s office. He said that many of these scams are being conducted by people outside of the U.S., which makes recovering any stolen money much more difficult.

“They are set up to prey on people’s good nature, especially at fulfilling their civic duties, like jury duty. If you are not as familiar with the legal system, it can rattle you and you likely are willing to do anything to make things right in that moment,” Diepenbrock said.

Additional scams the office has warned the public about include package scams and unsolicited messages. The package scam usually starts when a resident receives a text message or phone call asking for personal information related to the delivery of a package.

The unsolicited messages can have more dire consequences, because the scammer, after collecting personal information and learning more about the target, will try to get the target to send a nude photo of themselves to the scammer and then demand money in exchange for keeping the photo private.

Beyond calling local law enforcement, Diepenbrock said that victims can make a report through the Kansas Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division.

“Most importantly, if someone in law enforcement is pressuring you to pay a sum of money immediately to resolve a legal problem, that is the most important clue that it is a scam. It’s OK to be blunt and firm with them to say you will hang up and call the agency directly to verify that the law enforcement contact is legitimate,” Diepenbrock said.