Knox County Sheriff’s Office warns of sex offender phone scam

Wed, 02/26/2020 - 6:15pm
    Within the last hour, Knox Regional Communications Center received several calls, from Knox County citizens, reporting that they were contacted by phone and told that they were out of compliance with the sex offender resister and that they need to pay money to come into compliance.
     

    The callers are claiming to be agents of Knox County Sheriff’s Office, which they are not, and are instructing people to go to a kiosk machine, get cash out and call back for directions on how to pay.

    The callers are both male and female and are using high pressure techniques to try and compel people to follow their instructions. They are also able to have the phone number they are calling from appear to be from the local area.

    “We want all citizens to be aware that this is not how our office conducts business,” the sheriff’s office said in a news release. “If someone were out of compliance we would have an in person meeting to help them come back into compliance.

    “If you have experienced such a call or have fallen victim to this scam, please [contact] us to report it.”

    The lead investigator is Detective Justin Twitchell at 207.594.0429