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'Sophisticated' scam calls strip Mainers of tens of thousands of dollars

Scammers have gotten smarter and better at using technology in their favor, according to York County Sheriff Bill King.

ALFRED, Maine —

If you find yourself receiving a phone call from what appears to be a law enforcement officer telling you you're at risk of arrest and need to pay money, you are the target of a scam officials say is going around.

One of the people targeted, Kelley Sintz, couldn't think of a reason why a sergeant from the York County Sheriff's Office would be calling her on Tuesday.  

She was even more surprised when the caller told her she missed a court appearance and was at risk of arrest unless she followed his instructions. 

Sintz had a feeling it was a scam and her son started recording the call. "I knew better, but I wanted to kind of play along because I wanted to see how far these guys would go." 

In the call she played for NEWS CENTER Maine, the caller told Sintz to get in her car, drive to her bank and take out money to pay a $6,000 bail bond. Instead, she hung up and called the York County Sheriff's Office directly.  

Sheriff Bill King was the one who called her back. "Ironically, when he called me back, he called me from the number they called me from," Sintz said. However, this time it wasn't a hoax. 

"It's using the trust and integrity that we've built up over years to convince people," Sheriff King told NEWS CENTER Maine. 

King said Sintz's experience wasn't the first time the York County Sheriff's Office has been impersonated, but this method is a little more convincing because scammers use active employees that actually still work there.  

The first caller posed as current Sgt. David Chauvette, who then appeared to refer Sintz to his boss, Lt. Michael Perry, who called her from the exact York County Sheriff's Office phone number. 

King said there's one thing you can remember to make sure you never fall for it. "We have to continue to drive home the information to unsuspecting people that we do not collect money. We would never ask you to go to the bank or get a gift card or do anything else. Law enforcement agencies, that's not their mission. That's the mission of the courts." 

King said someone who believed the scam lost $20,000 this week. That doesn't surprise Kelley Sintz.  

"This was so sophisticated and so real, even someone who was questioning how could this happen or what could this be could fall for this," Sintz said.  

She said she's actually glad she was targeted, so she could do her part in shutting the operation down.  

This kind of scam is not just in York County. On Thursday, the Androscoggin County Sheriff's office posted a message on Facebook warning people about similar incidents there. 

For more local stories continue with us on our NEWS CENTER Maine+ streaming app. 

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