Dissecting a Berks sheriff impersonator's phone scam message [Opinion]

Yahoo

30-05-2025

My friend received a call from someone who sounded like Matthew McConaughey.
Besides the Texas drawl, there was something else suspicious about the caller's greeting.
'This is a sergeant, Bubby Bubbenmoyer, calling to assess the contacts with a M.L.,' the caller said. 'I'm calling from the Berks County Sheriff's Department. This is regarding a civil matter.'
She was instructed to call a number with a 610 area code.
'If this is a true emergency, please hang up and dial 911,' the message advised.
This was the actual transcript of the voicemail. Only the names were altered to protect the innocent.
The clumsy phrasing signaled to my friend that the caller wasn't who he said he was.
There might be a sergeant in the sheriff's office by that name, but it would be customary for a law enforcement officer to use their rank and last name together.
In the same rather than separate sentence, he'd identify the agency he's with, i.e., 'This is Sergeant Bubbenmoyer with Berks County Sheriff's Office.'
Scammers just can't seem to master the nuances of English, even if they speak it fluently. I hope they never do, because it can be a telltale sign that a caller isn't legitimate. They're trying to trick you to separate you from your money.
Their inherent underhandedness trips them up midsentence, like the devil stepping on his tail.
My friend didn't call the number. She called the Berks County Sheriff's Office and was told office staff there was spending the entire day answering calls from people who had received these kinds of calls.
Acting Berks County Sheriff Mandy P. Miller says phone scammers have tried to pose as sheriff personnel to obtain money.
The impersonators tell intended victims that they have missed jury duty or failed to appear for a court hearing. They tell the victims they could be detained if they show up in person.
To avoid that, they pressure the victims to send a payment via cryptocurrency such as bitcoin.
It's hard to believe anyone would fall for these tactics, especially when the caller demands payment via gift cards and cryptocurrency, which require the victim to jump through several hoops to make the payments.
A surefire way to avoid falling prey to a scam is to hang up when you receive a payment demand call.
'We need to get the point across that the sheriffs do not collect money, nor do they or any governmental bodies deal in bitcoin,' Berks County District Attorney John T. Adams said this week.
The last sentence in the scammer's message, about calling 911 if there was a true emergency, was comical.
'They called me, I didn't call them,' my friend said. 'Why would I need to hang up and dial 911?'