It's the latest scam: Contacting someone on the registry with an attempt to rip them off. I received a call from someone stating they were Sargent Steve Laney (Spelling?) from the Manatee County Sheriff department.

They left a message, sounding professional of course, (The bird chirping in the background didn't help) saying they are trying to make contact with me. Upon receiving this message I am to contact them in a timely fashion. He used a tone of voice as to put fear in me, like I broke the law.

He left a number to contact him. I checked the number.. it lead to an adult site.

If you should ever receive a call of this nature be sure to get the name of person claiming to be the police, their badge number, the division they are in, their phone number and, if you can, record the conversation. Look up the number to the station/sheriffs department they claim to be from and verify credentials.

And, if this caller cannot be verified, report the scam.

http://dnews.com/state-warns-of-scam-targeting-sex-offenders/article_1d401cbe-1104-11e8-9e7b-9f6a72bd2fe3.html

Registered sex offenders appear to be the latest target of scammers.

According to a news release from the Idaho State Police, the Idaho Central Sex Offender Registry has been made aware of several attempted scams targeting registered sex offenders in at least one Idaho county and six Florida counties.

One scam, according to ISP, involves a caller posing as a law enforcement officer who tells the sex offender he or she has missing or out-of-date registration information.

The caller then threatens the registrant with arrest for failure to register unless a gift/money card is brought to a specified location.

In another report, the caller says he or she is with the sheriff’s office and the sex offender has a warrant for being non-compliant. The scammer again a gift/money card.