BLOUNT COUNTY SHERIFF WARNS OF RAMPANT ANKLE MONITOR PHONE SCAMS
The Blount County Sheriff’s Office in Maryville, Tennessee, under Sheriff James Lee Berrong, has issued a warning about persistent phone scams targeting residents. Scammers, posing as sheriff’s deputies or law enforcement officers, are contacting people with false claims that a loved one has been arrested and requires thousands of dollars to pay for an ankle monitor for release, or that the recipient themselves has outstanding warrants or missed jury duty and must pay immediately to avoid arrest.
These fraudsters often obtain information about incarcerated individuals from public sources like the BCSO website or app’s Inmate Now feature to target family members specifically. Authorities emphasize that deputies never call family members about ankle monitors—instead, they deal directly with the arrested person and the monitoring company—and legitimate law enforcement will never demand payment over the phone via methods such as bank details, credit cards, gift cards, Bitcoin, or similar.
Such calls frequently use spoofed or internet-generated numbers to appear legitimate. Although the office has repeatedly alerted the public to these tactics, which intensify around holidays, some victims have unfortunately paid and lost significant sums. Residents are urged not to engage, to hang up on suspicious calls, to verify any questionable contact by calling the Sheriff’s Office directly using official numbers, and to never provide payment information to unsolicited callers.
The sheriff encourages sharing this information to protect family and friends from falling victim to these relentless criminals.
