[US]
Somebody claiming to be an investigator with the county Sheriff’s Office called my work, asking for me by name. I pick up, he gives me a number to call with an extension (edit: it was the same number he called my shop with, and the caller ID said SAFE FENCE) and when I press, says he “can’t tell me details of the case” upon asking if I should be concerned he said “well we’ll get that squared away”, but also said i’m not going to jail lol. He said I had to get in my car and go to the local sheriffs office to get some report with all of this information, and that “nobody will have to know about it” (i.e, make it go away lol), I cannot go there, but am actually within walking distance to my towns PD. He said “oh I can just fax it” and then told me he’d tell me what was going on on the way(?)
He eventually did tell me what was going on (also something I absolutely did not do lmao, he claimed to know this and even actually said he determined there was no illegal activity or something on my part via his investigation)
I, naively, prepared to go, talked to my coworkers about it and they seemed sketched out. Told me to ask for a badge number (he had given me his name at this point, but I don’t remember it) and I did, though he gave me a number he immediately got belligerent and tensions very quickly turned into argument and yelling, this ended with him saying “we’re just gonna do this the official way, they’ll come serve you in person and you’ll see the uniforms.” When escalated further because I wouldn’t give him my “legal name as it appears on my drivers license” immediately so he could “verify it’s me to send me the report” (even though he already told me what it was about.) he claimed there was a warrant also, even though he said I was in the clear (I guess? Idk. I left confused) and that they’d come serve me, arrest me, take me to jail and I could make my case in trial. He hung up after.
Now, I absolutely did not do what they claimed lol. I’m a tattoo artist, he claimed there was a “report made about a month ago that I tattooed the private area of a 17 year old girl” (absolutely not, I am extremely serious about my paperwork and making sure someone has a physical ID. Straight up this is laughable) Also I haven’t tattooed a girl in her “private area” in my career lol, he claimed to know this and told me he found out it was her “sex offender boyfriend and she chose to blame me when her mom found out”
Now, i’m a pretty anxious person. I’ve had a really rough few years and I suffer from OCD, which turns this kinda stuff up to 10 in my head. My anxiety got the best of me here. I guess my confusion comes in to like
Why tell me to go to the sheriffs office or police office? What are they going to gain from this? It’s not like they asked for money, but there are a ton of obvious red flags here that scream “fake! Scam!”, but I was wondering if anybody else has had a similar experience
EDIT (again): I called my local sheriff’s office and barely even started talking before they told me I was being scammed lol, I didn’t have a chance to inquire about a badge number or anything, but I did say that he shared details about a case with me. Am I still anxious? Yes. Because he told me they’d probably come to me within the week or a few days and I am mentally ill lol