Police Alert Citizens to Scam

The Sevierville Police Department (SPD) is issuing an alert to citizens regarding a reported scam involving impersonation of a law enforcement officer.

The SPD received a report from a past victim of a local business burglary stating that they were called by a person identifying himself as a detective from an Alabama law enforcement agency who said he had recovered some of their stolen merchandise. In order to return the stolen items, the detective said he needed credit card information to pay for delivery of the items back to the victim.

SPD detectives have determined that the caller was not a law enforcement officer and that this was a fraudulent attempt to obtain credit card information from the business burglary victim. The caller likely obtained information about the past burglary through media stories and then attempted to scam the victim.

Citizens are reminded to never provide sensitive personal or financial information over the phone, by email or the internet, or to comply with demands for payment, until they have confirmed the authenticity of the request.