KENT COUNTY, Mich. — Imagine you receive a call from an unknown number. You're told that you have three outstanding warrants for your arrest and, if you don't pay bond, you could go to jail.
It was a normal day for Sydney McKendry, sitting on the sidelines watching her son's soccer practice.
McKendry tells me, “He just said I was supposed to appear in court, I did not show up, I was in contempt, and I was supposed to be a material witness for something to do with a profession I either have now or had prior.”
It was a scam caller claiming to be, what McKendry describes, a "Kent County captain."
“I put him on speakerphone, and I Googled Kent County Sheriff's Department, and it was the Kent County Sheriff's Department phone number that he was calling me from,” McKendry said.
Kailey Gilbert, sergeant with the Kent County Sheriff's Office, explains these scam calls are unfortunately very common.
“If you get one of those calls, we strongly encourage the community to call us through our 911 center and let us know about it,” Gilbert said.
Gilbert tells me that it's rare for the Kent County Sheriff's Office to make calls claiming individuals owe a certain dollar amount to avoid going to jail.
“These suspects target our emotions, and they make you think that your world is going to fall apart right now if you don't pay this large sum of money,” Gilbert remarked.
That's exactly what happened to McKendry. The scam caller told her, “If you show up at the sheriff's department right now, they will detain you if you set foot on their property.”
This left McKendry to face the reality of going to jail. McKendry said, “All I kept thinking was, 'How am I going to take care of my kids?'”
The scammer told McKendry that she had a $75,000 bond as a result of her three separate warrants. The scammer then told McKendry that she could respond in a civil manner and pay 10% of her bond, amounting to $7,500.
However, McKendry refused.
“He started talking over an intercom, and he said, 'Dispatch, please go detain Sidney McKendry.' He listed my address. They had my maiden name — they had a lot of information,” McKendry said.
It's a believable story McKendry doesn't want anyone else to fall for. “I think it's evil, and I think it's terrible. What an awful person to play on the fear of somebody else to gain money. It needs to end. Absolutely it needs to end.”
Sergeant Gilbert tells me that the Kent County Sheriff's Department continues to address these scam calls head-on.
If you receive one of these scam calls yourself, you're told to call their 911 center.
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