Denver Sheriff Department says scammers are targeting families with recently arrested loved ones

Denver Sheriff Department is warning the public about a scam targeting families of people who have just been arrested.

Esperanza Chestnut woke up to four missed calls and a voicemail around 5 a.m. The caller claimed to be with the Denver County Jail and said her cousin had been arrested.

"They said what his charge was, his age, his full legal name," Chestnut said. "I panicked."

Chestnut later learned her cousin had actually been arrested around 2 a.m. She looked them up through the Denver inmate search online and confirmed he was in custody. 

About 20 minutes later, Chestnut said she received another call from a number that appeared to belong to the Denver Sheriff Department. The caller claimed to be a sergeant and asked whether she wanted to begin the payment process of getting her cousin out of jail.

"There's no way that they could have had him processed, booked and had a bail that soon," she said. "The courts aren't even open."

When Chestnut told the caller she would not be sending money, the call ended.

Denver Sheriff Elias Diggins said his department is aware of scams involving people impersonating Denver Sheriff Department employees. 

"This new scam is when folks first come into our custody, before they're even given a bond or eligible for bail," Diggins explained. 

Diggins said scammers appear to be using publicly available inmate information, then searching online for relatives and phone numbers.

"To get the information about who's in jail, it is publicly available," Diggins said. "Imagine if you have a loved one who gets arrested. You want to know as soon as possible when that person is actually in custody."

That same information can be exploited.

"Unfortunately, because of the internet, if you put in someone's name, you can probably find out who they're related to, perhaps even get their phone number, and then use that to try to scam them out of money," Diggins said. 

Diggins said inmate information can appear in the system quickly after a person enters custody. That means scammers may be able to contact relatives within an hour or two of someone being booked.

The Denver Sheriff Department will not call family members asking for money. The department also does not call relatives simply to notify them that someone is in jail.

"We never do that," Diggins said. "The Denver Sheriff Department will not call you to tell you that your family member is in jail. Your family member may call you themselves to let you know that they are in custody."

In Chestnut's case, the caller appeared to use a legitimate Denver Sheriff Department phone number. Diggins said scammers can spoof numbers to make it look like the call is coming from a trusted source.

The sheriff said anyone who receives this type of call should hang up and independently verify the information.

"Our advice to folks is to pause, stop, no matter the hour, no matter the time of day, and verify the information," Diggins said.

He recommends contacting the jail, local law enforcement, the district attorney's office or the Colorado Attorney General to report the scam. He said impersonating law enforcement is illegal, and agencies take these cases seriously.

Chestnut said the most disturbing part is that scammers were trying to take advantage of families in a vulnerable moment.

"You wanted to help, but now you're paying these scammers who aren't going to do anything," Chestnut said. "Then, you're out all of this money, and you don't have that money anymore to actually help your family member."