Sheriff, Tax Collector Warn Seminole County Residents of Scam Calls, Texts

Scam calls and text messages impersonating banks and law enforcement swept through Seminole County in early March, prompting a joint warning from the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office and the Seminole County Tax Collector’s Office on March 5, 2026. Deputies in Sanford and elsewhere in the county advised residents to be wary of unsolicited demands for money or sensitive account information.

Local reporting by Countryherald focused on bank and financial impersonation tactics, noting scammers “often create a sense of urgency, pressuring victims to act quickly before they have time to verify the request.” Countryherald quoted investigators saying messages may claim “there is suspicious activity on a bank account” and that victims are sometimes asked to “provide account numbers, passwords, or verification codes.” That coverage also warned some scammers request payment through “gift cards or cryptocurrency, methods that are difficult to trace and recover once sent,” and repeated sheriff’s office guidance that residents should “contact their bank or financial institution directly using a verified phone number if they receive suspicious messages or calls.” Countryherald singled out young adults, students, and commuters as “especially vulnerable to quick-response scam tactics.”

WFTV Channel 9 Orlando, in reporting by Beatriz Oliveira, highlighted a parallel set of scams in which callers pose as law enforcement. Oliveira’s article said “fraudsters are targeting relatives of individuals who are on probation or in jail, as well as claiming that recipients have missed jury duty or have an arrest warrant.” WFTV reported that “in all cases, the scammers ask for money to resolve the situation, suggesting that a payment can prevent charges or fines,” and quoted the sheriff’s office: “The Sheriff’s Office emphasizes that genuine law enforcement will never contact individuals asking for payment over the phone or via text.”

Syndicated coverage carried by WCTV and WALB added technical details on the impersonation schemes, reporting that callers are “spoofing the agency’s administrative phone number and posing as sheriff’s office employees or deputies” and that “in some cases, scammers are even using the names of real deputies to sound legitimate.” That coverage described a common script in which “the caller typically claims the recipient has an outstanding warrant and demands immediate payment for a bond,” and said victims were often instructed to send money through Cash App or other electronic payment services.

The Seminole County Sheriff’s Office language echoed in WCTV’s copy made explicit payment warnings: the agency “does not accept bond payments through Cash App, Venmo, gift cards, wire transfers, or similar services, and will never threaten arrest over the phone.” Officials urged residents to hang up and verify suspicious calls by contacting the sheriff’s office directly using a trusted phone number listed on the agency’s official website or by visiting in person. WCTV also urged that “anyone who receives one of these scam calls is urged not to send money and to report the incident immediately. Sharing the warning, officials say, could help prevent others from becoming victims.”

Media outlets republishing the warnings included Yahoo, which carried WFTV’s reporting, and Countryherald, which located the warnings in Sanford, Florida. A syndicated WALB header appearing in some feeds shows “SEMINOLE COUNTY, Ga. (WALB),” a syndication artifact that conflicts with the majority of coverage identifying Seminole County, Florida; the bulk of reporting names Seminole County, Florida and Sanford as the affected jurisdictions. The Seminole County Tax Collector’s Office was also named among public agencies issuing alerts, though the available accounts provided no direct quote from that office.

Residents who believe they have shared financial information or who received a suspicious call are advised to contact their bank using a verified number and to report the incident to local law enforcement immediately, rather than sending money through Cash App, Venmo, gift cards, wire transfers, or cryptocurrency.