Savannah mayor goes undercover with Chatham sheriff to thwart scammers

Multiple Savannah residents have been contacted by scammers posing as members of the Chatham County Sheriff’s Office with an intimidating message: Pay between $2,000 and $50,000 to avoid jail time. 

Chatham County Sheriff Richard Coleman said he has compiled evidence that scammers are targeting residents via phone calls, text messages and sending alleged photocopied court documents in the mail.

“It first came to my attention a few weeks ago, when people were saying that members of the sheriff’s office were asking for money,” Coleman said. “Of course, that raised a red flag because we don’t ask for money here at the Chatham County Sheriff’s Office.” 

Then, the scammers made a mistake, he said. They called Savannah Mayor Van Johnson with the same threat. While on the phone with the scammer, Johnson reached out to Coleman and surreptitiously added him to the call. 

Next,  the two decided they would conduct a sting. 

“The mayor of Savannah actually went undercover as a UC for me, and me as the sheriff being his immediate backup,” Coleman said. “So you had your mayor and your sheriff actually working a case in Savannah to stop the scamming and prevent our citizens from being victims of a crime.”

Together — and with no other backup — Coleman and Johnson traveled to the Walmart on Montgomery Cross Road, where the scammer said they would meet to do a money handoff. Although the scammer never showed, Coleman said that he was prepared to protect the mayor.

Coleman declined to release information on the alleged suspect, as the investigation is still ongoing. He also praised the mayor for keeping the suspect on the phone long enough for the sheriff’s office to learn more information.

This falls in line with Coleman’s efforts to start a CyberCrimes unit in collaboration with Savannah Technical College’s police department.

“I’ve always said as sheriff, that we want to be proactive instead of reactive,” Coleman said. “We’re seeing that scams and these type of things have been picking up lately in our community, and we want to get in front of these things before it gets out of hand.”

Coleman advised residents to “take time to verify” any documents they receive that claim to be from the government, especially if they’re requesting money. He also recommended reaching out to the official groups scammers claim to be representing. 

When asked about the mayor’s reaction to the operation, Coleman said he loved it. 

“I told him to come on and get deputized,” he added.