Richland Sheriff Warns of Con Artist Posing as Lieutenant

Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott is alerting the community about a scam artist posing as a lieutenant with the sheriff’s department.

Lott said several citizens have received calls from someone posing as a one of his lieutenants telling them that there is a bench warrant for their arrest and that they must purchase a prepaid visa card, specifically a Green Dot card. 

The suspect tells the person to purchase a card valued at $498 and call the suspect back with the numbers off the card in order to take care of the outstanding bench warrant from Central Traffic Court.

The sheriff’s department is investigating these incidents to determine who is responsible, Lott said. Anyone who has followed through with the suspect’s request and has been victimized should contact the sheriff’s department immediately at 803-576-3000. 

Anyone who receives a call about a bench warrant for his or her arrest can call Central Court at 803-576-2300 extension 1 to verify the legitimacy of this claim. 

If you have information about this scam or know the identity of the scam artist, call Crimestoppers at 1-888-CRIME-SC.