The Stearns County Sheriff’s office has taken several phone scam reports where residents of Stearns County are being called and advised that their grandchild is in jail. The suspects identify themselves as a supervisor of the jail and that they need to receive Walmart gift cards to bail their grandchild out of jail. Several victims have purchased $3000.00 and $6000.00 Walmart gift cards and provided the gift card information to the suspects.
Jails do not deal with gift cards and would not operate in that manner. When someone has been arrested and has a bail amount, jails normally work with bail bonding agents, cash or cashier’s checks.
The Stearns County Sheriff’s Office would like to remind residents to never provide financial information to anyone over the phone that you may not be familiar with or have not worked with in the past. Anyone that may be a victim of this scam is encouraged to call the Stearns County Sheriff’s Office at 320-251-4240 to report this crime.
