(La Porte County, IN) - La Porte County Police have identified a new scam.

According to police, offenders in the county jail have had family members contacted about giving money.  Police said the suspects go to the La Porte County Jail website and look up the names of offenders.  The names are then searched online to find phone numbers of family members who are then contacted.

Money is sought to supposedly bond them out of jail.

To keep from being scammed, police said there are a number of things people can do like never saying yes to unknown callers or simply hang up. People should also be skeptical if any sense of urgency is expressed; don’t trust caller ID and never share sensitive information, police said.

Police also encourage people to utilize call-blocking technology on their smartphone and register their phones on the National Do Not Call Registry by visiting https://www.donotcall.gov.