Constable Mark Herman warning public about scammers posing to be him
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Harris County Precinct 4 Constable's office is working to stop scammers that are targeting senior citizens in the Houston area.
Constable Mark Herman says someone has been calling people, pretending to be him and scamming them out of money.
"A few weeks ago my Facebook account was compromised and they (scammers) went on messenger and created a fake account," Hermann said. "They asked people to donate to charities in my name. I had people call me."
In another case, an elderly woman was told by a scammer posing to be Mark Herman that she had an outstanding warrant in federal court.
The scammer advised the woman to go to her nearest Kroger, get prepaid credit cards worth $1,400 and then give the scammer the credit card numbers.
Fortunately, a teller at the bank became suspicious and asked the woman what was going on. The bank teller called authorities, who then uncovered the scam.
The very next day, four more calls were reported to the constable's office involving a fake charity.
"We literally had people show up here to check if this was the constable, and was going to give him the money," Herman said.
Herman says he wants everyone to know about the scams and to not fall for them.
The fake Facebook account has been closed, and investigators are working to get the IP address for that account. As for the caller, detectives know the scammers phone was routed through Canada, but the person may be local.
