The Mono County Sheriff’s Department has received numerous telephone calls from all over the United States from potential victims of a telephone scam. The victims report that they were contacted by a representative of the “Bridgeport Sheriff’s Department.” The representative has a Middle Eastern or Indian accent and claimed to be investigating an outstanding debt. The caller already had personal identifying information belonging to the victims such as social security numbers and account numbers. The caller asked the victims to call back on a provided number or be subject to arrest. The provided telephone number appears to be a local number but is actually a number from a phone bank in India.

The caller’s telephone number is usually identified as all zeros on the victim’s caller ID. The callers have also identified themselves as representatives from other bogus companies such as: United Legal Processing Division, Midline Marketing, Crime Monitoring Services, Monetary Crime Division, U.S. National Bank, and State Investigations Dept. of California. It is believed that the victim’s genuine identifying information was obtained when they previously applied for a payday loan.

If you receive a telephone call similar to the ones described above, do not send any money or provide any additional personal financial information. Please contact your local law enforcement agency. –Mono County Sheriff’s Dept.