Orange City, Iowa — Residents in northwest Iowa have been receiving phone calls from an imposter claiming to be Lieutenant Justin De Bruin with the Sioux County Sheriff’s Office.
According to Sioux County Sheriff’s officials, while they do have a Lieutenant Justin De Bruin on their staff as a legitimate employee, he has not been calling people asking for gift cards.
They tell us the imposter is telling victims that they missed federal jury duty, and a warrant is being issued for their arrest unless they supply the scammer with numbers from a gift card in the amount of $3,000.
The Sheriff’s Office tells us they will never call anyone and ask for money. They say please do not send money or gift cards to these people. They say this is a scam and people should not give out any of their information.
As numerous law officers have told KIWA, people asking you to buy gift cards is a big red flag unless you’re going to give that person an actual gift. They tell people never to agree to make any kind of payments with prepaid gift cards, as once you read the number to the scammer, your money is gone and can never be recovered. They say legitimate businesses and institutions never ask to be paid in gift cards.
