We were informed that there is a new scam happening in the Elizabethtown Area, and we want to assure everyone that it is A SCAM.
One of our area residents received a call from a number that appeared to be the Elizabethtown Police Department, and the person on the other end of the phone identified themselves as Chief Cunningham. The scammer told the resident that they were in trouble, and that the only way that they could avoid arrest was to go and purchase Target gift cards and give them the numbers on the back of the cards. Unfortunately, this resident believed that it was the Chief calling them, so they purchased the gift cards and have now lost a significant amount of money.
Please let us assure you that Chief Cunningham will ABSOLUTELY NEVER call you to ask you to pay for any fines over the phone. For that matter, NO POLICE OFFICER is going to call you and ask you to pay them over the phone with gift cards. Municipal, State and Federal government agencies DO NOT WORK THAT WAY. We are not set up to accept retailer gift cards as a legal form of payment for anything that you would need to pay the government.
PLEASE!!! If you receive a phone call from a phone number that appears to be the Elizabethtown Police Department, or any other police department, and they are asking you to pay them a sum of money to get out of trouble, that is a red flag. If they are asking you to pay that money by way of gift cards, that is a HUGE red flag. PLEASE... hang up and call the number that you know for the police department. Elizabethtown Police Department's phone number is 717-367-6540 during business hours, and 717-367-1835 during evenings and weekends. If you are not sure, or if you are the least bit suspicious, just give us a call and we can confirm whether or not it is an officer that is calling you.