Mesa County Woman Swindled Out of Thousands in Local Scam

Even the most sensible person can fall victim to a scam if it's believable. That's the case with a Mesa County woman who is now thousands of dollars poorer.

On Friday (April 14) the woman received a local phone call from someone claiming to be Pamela Brewer from the Mesa County Sheriff's Office. The caller said if the woman wanted to avoid arrest, she should send money.

It wasn't one call, but several calls from the scammers that finally convinced the woman to buy prepaid VISA gift cards or MoneyPak cards.

She was instructed to give the numbers of the cards to the caller, then mail those cards to a P.O. box in Orchard Mesa.

The Mesa County Sheriff's Office says they do not demand payment over the phone nor do they ask for payment with prepaid cards. If the Sheriff's Office needs to arrest you, they will contact you in person with a warrant.

If you receive a call, or in this case, a number of convincing calls, from anyone claiming to be from the Sheriff's Office, call 970-244-3500 to verify it's legitimate.

The same rule applies to anyone claiming to be from an agency or business trying to convince you to send money in the form of prepaid cards and/or asking for any personal information.