The Pettis County Sheriff’s is warning residents of another phone scam underway in which people are being told the caller is from the sheriff’s office and they have signed a subpoena for a federal grand jury.

The scam calls are then telling residents that they’ve failed to show for the grand jury and now have a warrant out for their arrest. They are told to come to the sheriff’s office and do some kind of signature verification. The call, at some point, essentially drops and residents are called back and/or are transferred to a “supervisor”, but the phone number that is assigned to Pettis County Joint Communications (the old SPD number of 660-826-8100) is showing up on caller ID.

The sheriff’s office says these calls are not coming from its office, the police department, or Joint Communications.

If you remain on the line with them, they are going to tell you that before you go the sheriff’s office you are going to have to go to your bank and withdraw thousands of dollars then deposit it into a kiosk somewhere in town. You are told that if you fail to do so, you will be arrested on sight. You are also told that if you go to the sheriff’s office before you deposit that money it is an admission of guilt, and you will be arrested on sight. None of that is true.

The Pettis County Sheriff’s Office is reminding the public that no law enforcement agency is going to handle arrest warrants in that manner, and the best course of action is to just hang up the call.