BUFFALO, N.Y. — Beware, someone is making phone calls using the name of retired Buffalo Police Detective Sgt. Gary Teague, and they are trying to get money.
Teague has been retired for years after years of working some high-profile cases in Buffalo.
He was alerted by someone in Florida about this scam, and he wants the public to know it is not him and he wants the person caught and prosecuted because they are impersonating an officer and taking money.
He was told that some of the victims paid money.
"One person has even gone so far as to pay $1,000, so someone who is saying they are Gary Teague," Teague said.
"I don't put anything past anybody. I know there are a lot of scams since time began. When people thought of not wanting to work, they thought of a scam, so this is a new wrinkle to some of the old scams. This time it happened to hit home," he added.
Teague knows a police department will not ask for money over the phone.
Amanda Chauncey Scanlon received a call last Saturday morning. She said the man left a message, and she returned the call, and it gave her a Buffalo Police recording, asking if she wanted to speak to the warrant office.
A man identifying himself as Teague from the warrant office returned her call and told her, "There was a warrant for my arrest, and a subpoena had been delivered to my work location, and he was telling me how I needed to meet him to take care of the issue."
Scanlon, the wife of a law enforcement agent, told the person to hold on, and the scammer hung up the phone.
Deputy Commissioner Barbara Lark is aware of the scam involving the name of one of her former co-workers.
"It's and out and out scam and we want you to take caution," she said. "What they are doing, this is really surprising to me that they had a specific name of an individual."
Federal Trade commission has tips which include:
- Don't give your personal or financial information in response to a request that you didn't expect;
- Resist the pressure to act immediately;
- Never pay someone who insists you pay with a gift card or by using a money transfer service.
"I feel bad that his very good name is being used," Scanlon said.