VIENNA — County Clerk Rhonda Rodgers told the commissioners at the April 6 meeting that spoofed calls have caused numerous out-of-state residents to call the courthouse.

Caller ID spoofing is when a scammer disguises his real number so that the recipient sees a different number.

In this case, someone was calling residents outside of Missouri, pretending to be from the Maries County Courthouse by using the telephone number. When recipients would call back, the courthouse would have no record of calling, and does not have a marketing call list.

Rodgers asked if another office had called regarding a traffic ticket or taxes.

“A lot of them had never even heard of Maries County or Vienna, Mo.  So it was definitely a phishing or some kind of deal,” Rodgers said.

Rodgers’ advice is that if someone receives a call from the courthouse to call back the official number to make sure they didn’t call.

“It’s really difficult because you call the number, and it’s the one number, and it could be any office in the courthouse that called them,” she said.

The Maries County Courthouse number is 573-422-3338.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) encourages spoofing scam victims to file a complaint.