The Kern County Sheriff’s Office would like to warn the public about a phone scam targeting residents in the area.
A person claiming to be with the Kern County Sheriff’s Office calls and/or leaves a voicemail regarding a missed court date, and that an arrest warrant has been issued. The caller is even using names of actual employees of KCSO.  The caller requests money be wired to an account to avoid arrest and to take care of the arrest warrant.

This is a scam. Anyone who receives a call from an unknown person requesting money should research the matter prior to providing any funds or personal information. You can do this by locating the organization’s telephone number online and contacting them directly. When you take a phone call you suspect to be a scam, you can ask the caller for their name, employee identification number and callback number as well as a reference number for the matter they are calling about. This information can be used to contact the organization directly to determine the validity of the request.

If you receive suspicious telephone calls that you believe to be a scam, you are urged to contact the Kern County Sheriff’s Office communication center at (661) 861-3110, or your local law enforcement agency, to report the incident.