Redmond couple avoids falling for scammers

We’ve had many reports about phone call scams; one claiming to be from the IRS, others claiming to be with the sheriff’s office, threatening jail time.

“It’s disconnected — this number is no longer in service.”

That is the message Bend resident Linda Parker got after she tried to call back an apparent scammer.

“They are going, ‘Oh good we’ve got a sucker on the line this time — we’ve got her hook line and sinker and man we are going to reel her in and we’re going to get money,'” Parker said Wednesday.

Parker received a call from a man claiming to be from the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office

The man told Parker, her husband, :Lelond, had to post a $500 bail because he had not shown up for jury duty and that a warrant was out for his arrest.

“When the police call you, it’s real,” Parker said. “So I thought it was real.”

Lelond followed instructions and thought he was going to meet a bail bondsman.

When the address given to him was the Rite-Aid in Redmond, he knew something was up.

“He asked me to buy a prepaid card for $500,” Parker said. “I thought, ‘No, police don’t ask you to do stuff like that.”

So Lelond called police and reported the scam.

Linda said she was relieved when she found out it was all fake.

“I just broke down in tears, and I’m going, Oh, thank God my husband isn’t going to jail! What am I going to do if he goes to jail?'” Parker said.

Sheriff’s Lt. Chad Davis they have received dozens of calls of people reporting this scam.

He also said an official from the sheriff’s office will never contact you by phone.

“If they make 100 calls in a day, and to get one person to follow through the request of buying a money order and sending it to them,or getting a money card, then they’ve been successful in committing their crime,” Davis said.

Linda and Lelond said they are relieved they are not part of that statistic, and hope others don’t fall victim.