Scammer posing as South Lake Tahoe police department employee

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Multiple residents in South Lake Tahoe have alerted authorities that a scammer has been calling them, pretending to be an employee of the South Lake Tahoe Police Department. Each of the locals called were told a similar story.

The scammer identifies themselves as either a former or current employee of the police department. The scammer tells the potential victim they are the subject of an investigation or a person of interest for a crime and asks them to wire money instead of prosecution by some means of money transfer (Western Union or pre-loaded cash gift cards).

The South Lake Tahoe Police Department is asking anyone who gets similar phone calls, to stop their conversation with the scammer and call police immediately.

South Lake Tahoe Police Department employees and investigators would never seek monetary gains in place of criminal prosecution.

If anybody has received suspicious phone calls as described above, please contact SLTPD Detective Scott Crivelli at (530) 542-6134.