Scammer posing as police officer hits Midlothian

MIDLOTHIAN – The scams just keep getting more intense.

Last week, an alert was issued on the Ellis County Sheriff’s Facebook page in conjunction with an alert posted on the Midlothian Police Department’s Facebook page in regard to fraud in Midlothian. 

It involved a person falsely identifying themselves as a representative of Amazon and later as a Midlothian Police Officer.

Apparently, the victim reporting the fraud had been called by an individual from a 334 area code claiming to be a service representative from Amazon. 

The victim was asked to confirm if several purchases had been made on her account in order to confirm if the purchases were legitimate. 

The victim denied the charges and the “Amazon representative” then requested she identify the location of her local police department in order for a report be filed. 

That same day the victim received a second call from a man who said he worked for the Midlothian Police Department identifying himself as a “Sgt. Hames Marshall.” 

The call came from the number (972) 775-3331, similar to the MPD telephone, but it is not a Midlothian Police Department exchange.

The man said he was calling on behalf of the earlier call made to the victim by the “Amazon service representative” and he was investigating the Amazon purchase. 

The man who identified himself as Sgt. Hames Marshall then said he discovered the victim had outstanding warrants and told her if she did not pay the warrants immediately, she would be arrested. 

He then texted the victim a photo of a fake MPD identification card along with two “vouchers” and the instructions on how to pay the warrants via money transfer at Walmart.

The Ellis County Sheriff’s Department post taken from the Midlothian PD Facebook page explaining the situation noted “While it [the MPD identification card] does have a photo of one of our officers – likely taken from social media - we do not have a “Sgt. Hames Marshall” and the patch/badge, and signature from the Chief of Police are not accurate.”

The “vouchers” sent to the victim did appear to be Walmart mobile money cards. 

The Midlothian Police Department and the Ellis County Sheriff’s Department want to remind everyone to be aware no police officer will ever take payment for an outstanding warrant in the field; payments are always made to the Court. As well, payment for outstanding warrants will never be made via Walmart gift cards.

If you have any questions, or if you ever feel the need to verify the identity of any officer in any city contact that city’s police department and ask questions.