Member Submission: Scams Continue
I wanted to make you and the other members aware that the scam calls to those of us on the registry continue and they sound so damn real! For the record I live in Monroe County.
I got a call earlier that I knew/figured out was a scam telling me there is a warrant out for my arrest for not submitting a secondary DNA sample. I’ve never submitted a DNA sample. The guy said his name is Thomas Livingston and said he’s with the Sheriff’s office but didn’t say which one and didn’t say he was a cop. He said he’s the chief communications officer or some Bull crap. He asked why didn’t I submit my DNA sample and I said I don’t have to. So he said I’m non-compliant. I did figure out it was a scam and I said this is a scam and I am hanging up now which I promptly did.
And ironically as I was typing this email to you he just called me again obviously forgetting he called me already. I told him if he doesn’t stop calling and harassing me I am going to report him to the police and get him arrested (which I’m sure he wouldn’t be but fight fire with fire) at which he told me to go Fuck myself and I told him to go do the same and I hung up no on him again.
This is the number he is calling from: (305) 564-4256
They sure love that Livingston name. I’m in Tallahassee, so I’ve had callers from my area code, Georgia, and Alabama. It’s always deputy Livingston. They’re so impromptu that we forget we can record the call. If you record one of these calls, make sure and ask for a badge number, then submit it to the state attorney’s office. Save a copy for the FBI. Eventually they’ll get tired of someone impersonating an officer. Question is, what’s their endgame? They don’t have anything to gain from you going to the sheriff’s department to give a random dna sample, which you don’t have to do of course.
Their endgame is to extort you for money. They say you have a warrant and they can resolve it for you over the phone if you pay them. Then they will ask you to purchase some stored value gift cards and give them the number while they wait on the phone. Often people don’t find these posts on FAC’s site until AFTER they have already been scammed for thousands of dollars.
Florida is a two party call state, even if you are being victimized, recording someone without their consent could be a 3rd degree felony.
I believe this only applies to phone (and possible video calls). I am fairly sure that recording someone in public, or on your own private property, does not fall under this. There is no expectation of privacy in public.
https://www.rev.com/blog/phone-call-recording-laws-state
Eleven states require two-party consent, however. In other words, everyone involved in a conversation must agree to be recorded. Those states are California, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Washington.
(Don’t let the phrase “two-party” throw you. If there are five people on a call, it would technically require five permissions. The “two” in “two-party” implies everyone on the call knows what’s going on.)
What are the Penalties for Secretly Audio Recording Someone in Florida? Under Fla. Stat. 934.03, secretly audio recording another individual is a 3rd Degree Felony offense, punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0900-0999/0934/Sections/0934.03.html
(Of course, there is a special exemption for a child recording their victimizer)
“4. The interception does not acquire communications other than those transmitted to, through, or from the computer trespasser.
(k) It is lawful under this section and ss. 934.04-934.09 for a child under 18 years of age to intercept and record an oral communication if the child is a party to the communication and has reasonable grounds to believe that recording the communication will capture a statement by another party to the communication that the other party intends to commit, is committing, or has committed an unlawful sexual act or an unlawful act of physical force or violence against the child.”
However if you let it go to voicemail and they leave a message at least you have a legal recording of their voice. You could ask them to call back and leave a message of exactly what they want. That would be another way to legally record them
Sadly, if there really is a warrant for your arrest. Law enforcement won’t call you to let you know. They just show up with a bunch of their friends.
Well done. Very well done.
I had one like that recently. Same script – about not submitting DNA. Except he said he was from the Country Sheriff’s office. Now I know the names of BOTH the guys working in the offender registration office and I actually register in the city; and the chief of police for the city himself does the registration. So when he couldnt give me any of their names, he started to stutter. When he mention I could pay my “civil fine” by going to Walmart I just laughed at him. Called him pathetic. He started to get angry and said if i dont do this, a warrant will be issued for my arrest. Told him to go ahead, come to my house and arrest me. Its been a month and, surprise, no one has shown up.
If I don’t know who it is, I don’t answer it.
Try it.
Whenever my phone rings and the caller ID says “scam likely”, I always answer just to mess with them. Blocking the numbers do not help, so I mess with them so bad that I get them to block me.
Just yesterday I had a scam call (nothing to do with the registry) and to my surprise, I was able to keep “Isaac”, who had a heavy Indian accent, on the line for almost a half hour while I kept interrupting him with stupid questions and berated him and told him what a horrible person he was for trying to scam people.
I did get a scam call about 4 years ago claiming the sheriff department had no record of me registering during one of my months, and I told them I would gladly fax them a copy of my signed paperwork showing otherwise if they would be so kind as to give me a fax number. They immediately hung up and never called back.
To those of you who are wise to the scams, a word of caution. They tried the DNA sample scam with me a couple years ago and I didn’t fall for it. But then they called some of my family members (brothers and sisters). They told one of my brothers that they would arrest me if he did not pay up. He was so worried that he nearly did. Luckily he got ahold of me.. we did a 3 way call with the 2 fake officers and I told them to F off. So please educate your family members as well. I don’t want these a-holes to get a dime.
Thays an excellent point. They called my wife first. She was aware and told them to kick rocks. But it could have gone the other way if she didn’t know ahead of time.
This happened to my wife as well. English is not her first language and she got one of the recorded calls a couple years ago saying it was Detective whatever and that if your husband doesn’t pay $x then a warrant would be issued and I would be arrested. She was freaking out and it was really hard for me to convince her that it wasn’t real. They definitely target the loved ones and family members if they can’t get you.
Iv gotten so many of these calls now its almost funny. That last guy who told me they were sending out the police to arrest me. I asked him if they would stop and grab me some subway on the way because I was hungry lol. They aren’t getting a dime from me.
When I got a call a few years ago saying I violated a court order for a DNA sample that was supposedly mailed to me a month before, I told them to mail another one. I’d wipe my ass with it and send it back and they could get their sample from that.
Arrest threat followed (of course) and I just told them to come get me. Shocking that no one showed up.
Dustin
I use to work in law enforcement, I wish they would call me with the Bull*hit. I would ask them, “How many cops are going to send over my house to enforce this”? Whatever amount they would answer with, I would reply “You better bring more than that if you think you can force that on me!”
I had one DNA sample when I was sentenced almost 30 years ago and I assume they still have that on file. I didn’t even get a lollipop when they drew my blood.
The best part is sharing the phone numbers of the scammers with all of us. Thank you!
A few years back I got a similar call. He gave me a name and my phone had his phone number. It was my first such call and it shook me up a little bit. I said I would have to call him back as I had another call coming in. I called my PO and he asked what the guy’s, supposed, name was and the telephone number. Then my PO’s boss called him using 3-way calling so I could her what was said. The guy answered and the PO asked if he was Lt. (his name) and the guy said it was. The head PO introduced himself and told the guy he was lying and that he had already turned his telephone number into the authorities, along with his name. As stupid as this guy was, I cannot help but think that this guy may have acturally used his own real name. The head PO cussed this man like I have never heard him speak before. Bottom line, the head PO stood up for me here in Tennessee.