Birmingham Police Department Warns Of Phone Scam

BIRMINGHAM, AL — Birmingham police have received multiple complaints about a new scam circulating in the Birmingham area. The scam involves someone calling a victim and fraudulently claiming that a relative of the victim is in jail in order to get money.

“The scammer contacts the community member by cell phone and addresses the community member by name,” Officer Truman Fitzgerald of the Birmingham Police Department said. “The scammer then claims to be a supervisor with the Birmingham City Jail and claims to have one of the community member’s family members in custody, who the scammer also addresses by name. The scammer then says that if the community member sends a payment through Cash App, Pay Pal or Green Dot card the Birmingham City Jail personnel will release the family member who allegedly is in custody.”

Fitzgerald said the Birmingham Police Department will never request any personal information or forms of payment over the phone.

If any community member has been a victim of this scam please contact the Birmingham Police Department’s Financial Crime Division at 205-254-1761.