The calls are reported to police so frequently that officers can recite the scam beat by beat.

The scammer calls a potential victim and claims to be a deputy with the Warren County Sheriff’s Office or a Bowling Green Police Department officer or a member of another local law enforcement agency.

They tell their potential victim that a warrant exists for their arrest due to missing a court date, or failing to report for jury duty, or some other invented violation.

To avoid going to jail, the victim is directed by the scammer to go to a retailer and buy several gift cards and then provide the gift card numbers to the scammer so that the funds can be transferred.

The scammer keeps the victim on the phone throughout the process, often to prevent them from calling for help, and directs them to buy cards at multiple stores.

Warren County Sheriff Brett Hightower said it’s not uncommon for a couple residents each month to find themselves ensnared in the scam.

“As you can imagine, most people have no contact with law enforcement on a day-to-day basis, and this puts people in a panic mode that somehow they’re getting threatened by law enforcement with arrest,” Hightower said.

An elderly woman and a Western Kentucky University student each fell victim to this particular scam recently, losing thousands of dollars in the process, Hightower said.

The gift card scam is a common way to extract money from victims, and scammers typically pose as law enforcement officers, government agents, sweepstakes companies or employers.

In the first nine months of 2021, losses of nearly $148 million were reported by almost 40,000 victims through this type of scam, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

The Bowling Green Police Department has fielded complaints of a similar type of scam, in which a caller posing as a city police officer informs the potential victim that they have missed a court date and demands money via gift cards to prevent an arrest.

The calls can be effective in part because the scammers use caller ID spoofing, concealing the caller’s actual number and replacing it with a false, local phone number.

Hightower said the scammers often call from foreign locations beyond the reach of local law enforcement.

“We just want to make sure people know that law enforcement does not collect money and particularly not in that manner,” Hightower said. “If you receive a call that tells you to go to some big box retailer, get gift cards, load them up and send the money, that should send up huge red flags that this is a scam.”

Hightower said anyone receiving a phone call from someone claiming to be a specific officer who asks for money via gift cards should contact local law enforcement and ask to be put through to that officer.

The sheriff also said that people should avoid giving personal information over the phone.

The FTC encourages anyone who has paid a scammer with a gift card to keep the card and receipt and report it to the card issuer immediately, then contact the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.