A telephone scam that’s been around for a while has hit Tehama County, and it’s sure to be attempted again because somebody fell for it. The Tehama County Sheriff’s Office says an aggressive jury service scam has been hitting the area for the past few days. Often with such scams, the victim’s caller I.D. will show what appears to be a legitimate number, but the caller can program it that way to make it more convincing. The victim is told that they’ve failed to appear for jury duty and an arrest warrant has been issued. The caller demands immediate payment in the form of pre-paid cash cards or gift cards. A Tehama County resident reported getting such a call on Nonday from someone saying he was a sergeant with the sheriff’s office. The intended victim did the right thing by hanging up and calling the actual sheriff’s office. On Tuesday several more identical reports were made by people getting the same calls. On Wednesday the scammer struck gold. Deputies took a report from someone who complied with the caller and bought a Thousand Dollars worth of the cards. After the so-called sheriff’s sergeant got the information, he hung up. In all the calls, the scammer uses the name of an actual Tehama County Sheriff’s Sergeant. Elderly people are often targeted in these scams, and scam artists are, by definition, skilled at convincing intelligent people of preposterous notions. No legitimate law enforcement agency would ever contact someone by phone and demand immediate payment in this way, nor would they ever ask for personal information over the phone. The easiest defense is to simply hang up.