Gresham police warn of phone scam involving person posing as an officer

The Gresham Police Department received several reports Monday from local businesses about callers claiming to be "Sgt. Jason Cook" and "Lt. Finley."

No one with those names works for the department or the city of Gresham.

The caller claims to be from the "Civil Division" and tells the would-be victim that they owe the city for unpaid fines, including traffic citations, court fees and processing fees.

Police do not contact people this way and officers do not collect unpaid court fees or traffic citation fines.

The police department does charge and collect fees in certain situations for vehicle releases, if a car has been towed, and for specific public record requests, but those fees are only collected when people come to the department's records desk in person and they always receive a receipt.

Anyone who receives a suspected scam call is asked to note the phone number, name used and time of the call before hanging up and reporting it to the police non-emergency line at 503-823-3333.

Police remind people to not send money, don't agree to meet in person and do not provide any personal information over the phone in situations like this.

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