There is no Oconee deputy named Mark Richardson

The Oconee County Sheriff’s Office is issuing an alert today on an officer scam. A deputy with the Sheriff’s Office spoke with a victim by phone on Monday of this week in regards to the victim receiving a phone call from a man claiming to be Deputy Mark Richardson.  The man purported to be a deputy and told the victim that due to the victim missing jury duty that he would have pay money to stay out of jail. The victim was instructed to go purchase four green dot cards and place various amounts on each card and then to call the purported deputy at a number when the victim got the cards.  After purchasing the cards and placing money on the cards, the victim called the number given and provided the purported deputy the card numbers. The victim is out around $2 thousand.  And earlier today, deputies were informed by two separate individuals that they had received calls from an individual claiming to be Deputy Mark Richardson. But in both cases, no money was lost   “Any fines pertaining to traffic tickets, court fines or any type of warrants will not be handled by a law enforcement officer,” said Captain Greg Reed of the Criminal Investigations Division of the Sheriff’s Office.  “All those fines are to be paid in court.  Also, the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office has no employee by the name of Mark Richardson.”