Prince George’s County warns of sheriff impersonation phone scam
Callers posing as Prince George’s deputies are demanding fake fines, sometimes with gift cards or Bitcoin, while using real deputies’ names to scare residents.
Prince George’s County officials are warning residents about callers posing as sheriffs, demanding payment and threatening arrest or legal action if people do not comply. The scammers have used real deputies’ names and have pushed fake fines through gift cards and Bitcoin.
An assistant sheriff said the pitch is built to sound urgent and official: "They’re telling people to meet them here in the parking lot, bring cash money and then we’ll get you out of this warrant, which is totally false."
The Prince George’s County Sheriff’s Office has posted a scam alert about a spike in phone scams involving people impersonating deputies, and its Sheriff’s Newsroom carries a SCAMMER ALERT item. Prince George’s County Judicial has also posted a Jury Duty Scam Warning.
On June 11, 2025, scammers in Prince George’s County were using the names of real deputies. In another local case, scammers posing as deputies stole more than $12,000.
Anyone contacted by a fake sheriff should hang up, refuse to send money by gift card, Bitcoin or any other payment method, and call the Prince George’s County Police Department right away if they believe they have been targeted or victimized. Residents can also use the sheriff’s office fraud-and-scams notices and the county judiciary’s jury-duty warning pages to check any demand that claims to come from law enforcement or the courts.
This article was produced by Prism’s automated news system from verified source data, official records, and press releases, then run through automated quality and moderation checks before publishing. The system is built and supervised by the people who set the standards it runs under. Read our full AI policy.
Did this article answer your question?
