If you receive a call from a self-proclaimed law enforcement officer informing you that you must pay a fine in gift cards to avoid facing imprisonment, there is a 100% chance you are dealing with a scammer.

Although charlatans have existed since the dawn of time, their techniques are becoming more advanced. Some may work best on vulnerable people, like seniors, while others may deceive people of any age, leading to feelings of shame that are hard to shake away.

When Muri Mitschak’s phone rang on a seemingly normal October day, the caller ID displayed “Island County C,” which she thought could have been the Island County Courthouse.

The phone number, 360-678-4422, also looked authentic — it’s in fact one of the numbers listed in the Sheriff’s Office’s contact webpage.

When the Langley resident picked up, a voice she described as “official-sounding” let her know that she had missed jury duty and that she had to turn herself in. The voice warned her not to talk to anyone or she would face more charges. She was then transferred to a speaker who sounded more forceful as he ordered her to pay a fine to avoid imprisonment.

For 15 minutes, Mitschak felt confused and scared, unable to recall whether she had actually been summoned for jury service. When she finally inquired about the price to pay for her alleged crime, the voice told her she would have to pay $10,000, a price tag so high she figured she was being conned. After letting the man know she didn’t have the money, he hung up.

While she did not lose any money, the call left her feeling agitated and “stupid.”

She wasn’t the only one to feel shame. Island County Detective Ed Wallace estimates only half of the scam calls targeting the community are reported to law enforcement.

A local bank manager told the News-Times that financial institutions have been seeing an uptick of panicked customers attempting to withdraw large sums of cash after falling into the scammers’ trap. Often, victims are “groomed” not to trust bankers, who ask questions to ensure their clients are not being taken advantage of.

Wilma Jo Flaherty, the executive director of Regency on Whidbey, said these attacks have been a concern for the senior community and elderly people in general.

She recounted how a female resident almost lost $10,500 after a scammer told her that her credit union was being investigated for fraud, and she needed to withdraw money and transfer it somewhere “safe.”

Throughout the entire process, the woman was intimidated to remain on the phone with the scammer, according to Life Enrichment Director Lanida Brophy.

“They try to stay on the phone with you so you can’t call anybody else to verify what’s happening,” Brophy said.

When Brophy realized what was happening, she picked up the phone herself, pretending to be the victim. The scammer hung up. Flaherty later found almost a dozen calls with the scammer on the woman’s phone.

Luckily, Flaherty and Brophy said, the woman didn’t lose her money, though she felt great shame. Other residents and acquaintances who have fallen or almost fallen into the trap described feeling “hypnotized” by the voice on the phone, who often happens to know factual information about the victims.

With a myriad of tactics used to deceive vulnerable people, Recency is committed to hosting regular scam prevention talks with local law enforcement and experts.

According to Wallace, Whidbey is currently going through a yearly wave of scam calls that keep getting more advanced. By being aware of these tactics, residents can learn how to better protect themselves.

Scammers have been using programs to dial random phone numbers in a specified area code, hoping to find anyone who will take the bait, Wallace said.

Scammers posing as local authorities are now resorting to technology that allows them to spoof actual phone numbers and change their caller ID to the desired entity. While they used to make up fake names, they now pose as real officers, the detective said.

Ironically, Wallace recently found himself speaking with another Detective Ed Wallace, who claimed to have a warrant for his arrest.

The real Wallace played along, pretending to be scared and asking what to do. Eventually, the scammer caught on, yelled and hung up.

“If we have a warrant for your arrest, we’re not going to call you about it, we’re going to come see you,” the real Wallace said.

In some instances, scammers lure victims by saying their child or grandchild has been arrested and needs to be bailed out, asking for unusual payment methods like Visa prepaid cards or App Store gift cards, Wallace said.

In the scenario of an arrest, it is up to an adult to contact a family member to let them know they have been arrested, whereas authorities will contact the family of a detained juvenile, he said.

In Island County, people wishing to pay to bail someone out often need to contact a bonding agent, according to the county’s website. In the case of fines, those are not paid at the Sheriff’s Office, let alone in the form of gift cards, prepaid cards or crypto.

Those who wish to pay a fine have different options. Payments through cash, money orders, bank cashier’s checks (not personal checks), credit cards and debit cards may be made in person at the Clerk’s Office in the Law and Justice Center, by mailing money orders or checks to the Island County Clerk, online through nCourt (a third party company) or by calling 1-855-538-0421, according to the county’s website.

The best thing to do when dealing with suspicious calls, even when the caller is persuasive and intimidating, is to hang up, save whatever number the call came from and report the incident to the Sheriff’s Office or the local police department, Wallace said. People may also speak with an officer who will confirm whether the scammer posed as them.

Some scammers may also leave voicemails asking the victim to call a different number to talk about “a legal matter.” Wallace recommends reporting those messages as well and to avoid calling the number provided.

When someone claims to be from an individual’s bank or credit card company, the Island County Sheriff’s Office also recommends not providing any information, hanging up and contacting the bank or company through the number on their website.

Another trick that Wallace said has been seeing a resurgence of is the romance scam, where a person creates a fake online identity and pretends to be romantically interested in a victim to steal their money. Seniors are particularly vulnerable to this kind of fraud.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, there are different ways to recognize romance scammers. They might say they can’t meet their “loved one” because they are in a remote location. Once they gain the victim’s trust, they will begin asking for money under the pretense of facing medical expenses, wanting to buy tickets to visit the victim, paying fees to get out of trouble or even helping the victim invest in cryptocurrency.

When dealing with a romance scammer, the best course of action is to stop communicating with the individual, talk to a trusted person, search for any similar experiences, do a reverse image search of the person’s photos and report the scammer to the Federal Trade Commission at ReportFraud.ftc.gov, as well as the social networking site or app. Victims who paid with gift cards, wire transfer, credit/debit card or cryptocurrency should contact the company or their bank immediately to inquire about the feasibility of the refund.

If the victim pays the scammer in cash or provides a gift card number, the chances of recovering the money are very slim, Wallace said.

According to Flaherty and Brophy, many victims are instructed to deposit money into Coinstar and Bitcoin machines located at some grocery stores. Any money that is deposited into these machines is also lost, with little way of recovering it.

Unfortunately, a lot of the tricksters leave the state or the country, or are located in areas outside of the local law enforcement’s reach, Wallace said.