Scammers text man picture of fake arrest warrant

GILLETTE (WNE) — A 42-year-old man is not out any money after he received an arrest warrant over text message Wednesday morning.

The man was driving through Natrona County when he got a phone call that claimed he had an arrest warrant out of Campbell County and that unless he paid his bond, he would be arrested.

He believed this to be a scam and he called the Campbell County Sheriff's Office, said Undersheriff Quentin Reynolds.

He also received a text message with a copy of the warrant. At the same time he received the text, he was stopped by a Natrona County deputy for a traffic violation, Reynolds said.

The man sent the Campbell County Sheriff’s Office a copy of the arrest warrant, which was fraudulent but looked realistic, Reynolds said. The names of the officer and the judge on the arrest warrant were not the names of anyone who is an officer or a judge in Campbell County, and it used the sheriff’s office’s old logo from when Bill Pownall was sheriff, Reynolds said.

Reynolds did not know whether the man was ticketed by the deputy in Natrona County.

The sheriff’s office does not ask for money to make warrants go away, and it does not text arrest warrants to suspects. In law enforcement, “we appreciate the element of surprise,” Reynolds said, and it is bad practice to give suspects a heads up to let them know they’re going to be arrested.

This story was published on January 11, 2024.