Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana - The Calcasieu Parish Sheriff's Office is alerting local residents about a scam that has started to appear again in our area.
Victims say they receive a phone call where they are told that a warrant has been issued for their arrest. The person on the phone, who may pretend to be a deputy from the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff's Office and use the name of a real CPSO deputy, tells the victim to either buy a prepaid card or make a payment using a Bitcoin kiosk to cancel the warrant and avoid getting arrested. The scammer also adds that if the situation is not resolved right away, the victim will spend their Christmas holidays behind bars.

Sheriff Mancuso is warning residents that this is a scam and that a legitimate arrest warrant is typically served in person by law enforcement, but there are rare cases where an officer may call instead. It's important to note that an officer will never request money or payment by phone.