Scam artists are a threat that doesn’t seem to be going away any time soon, so it’s important for people to be able to recognize a scam when they hear it.

Dallas County Sheriff Chad Leonard says the most frequent scam right now is when someone calls from an unknown or blocked number and tells the victim they have a family member in jail. The caller requests money to be wired to an account, in order to get them out. In that scenario, Leonard advises you to contact your family member or the law enforcement agency directly. “Always call. You know, if you don’t think it adds up, just give us a call, or give your local police department a call. So if they’re calling you, and telling you that you have a family member in a jail, and you can’t call their cell phone right now because they’re in jail and all that stuff, call their cell phone. Check on them, because there’s a good chance that they’re not actually in jail or whatever the scenario might be.”

Leonard adds, not even he is immune to scam artists. Recently he got a call from a person who said his family member was in jail and he needed to wire them money. When he informed them who he was, the caller immediately hung up, and Leonard says they all had a good laugh about it. However, he says when people are trying to run scams it’s usually no laughing matter, so he encourages people to remain on their guard and to not trust unknown numbers.