Lehigh County Sheriff Joe Hanna issued a warning to residents to be aware of an ongoing scam in which people are pretending to be members of the county sheriff’s office.

Hanna said variations of the scam have been reported to include failure to appear for jury duty or to respond to a warrant.

He said the potential victim is then advised to pay a fine or be subject to apprehension and incarceration. Victims are further directed to purchase a disposable debit card and call the scammer providing access to the PIN number on it.

The sheriff said in a number of cases, the names of actual sheriff’s deputies have been used and official numbers have been “spoofed” to appear on caller IDs in order to legitimize the scam.

Hanna said, “Deputies do not collect moneys during the course of our everyday business.” He warned, “Varied telephone scams of this nature are frequent and anyone is subject to be targeted.”

The sheriff said anyone receiving a call of this nature, asking for money on behalf of the sheriff’s office, is asked to call the office at 610-782-3175.