A number of Natchez residents have reported recently to the Adams County Sheriff’s Office receiving telephone calls from people impersonating sheriff’s deputies.

Those unscrupulous callers tell residents they have an outstanding arrest warrant or did not show up for jury duty and owe a fine that must be paid immediately.

The scammers try to get credit card or pre-paid cash card information from the residents to clear up those bogus fines.

Sheriff’s officials say residents have said the calls they received came from a Picayune, Miss., number — 601-215-9248.

Scammers these days have become sophisticated. This particular scam operation even has a voicemail set up identifying itself as the sheriff’s warrant division.

No such division exists.

When someone seeks your personal information or any credit card information over the phone, please be wary. No legitimate agency is going to require that you provide that information over the telephone.

If you receive any phone call from someone claiming to be law enforcement or an officer of the court who is seeking money, hang up, look up that agency’s direct number yourself and call to find out if the call is legitimate. Don’t call any number provided you by the scammers.

The sheriff’s office warns residents to never to meet up with these unknown callers and never send them money.

Unfortunately, we live in a time when we would do well to reserve our trust until we are fully informed. If your instincts tell you something’s fishy, that’s likely to be the case.