Suspected Scammer Says He's Cartersville Police Captain

A man who called a Cartersville woman Sunday claiming to be a police captain said she could avoid an arrest on an outstanding traffic ticket if she loaded a Green Dot card.

The Chestnut Ridge Drive resident reported the noon phone call to the Bartow County Sheriff's Office, according to the incident report. She said an African-American man, who said he was a Cartersville Police Department captain and provided a badge number, told her she had failed to appear in court on an outstanding traffic citation.

The caller told the woman she should apply $375 to a Green Dot card—a reloadable prepaid debit cards—to avoid officers coming to her home and arresting her.

It's unclear if the victim in fact had an outstanding traffic ticket, but deputies report the caller is suspected to have been impersonating a public officer while committing telemarking fraud.

Authorities say the man on the phone, in addition to calling the woman three more times, has contacted a 49-year-old man who lives in White with the same story.

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