Rutherford County, TN – Ah, scams. Like pumpkin spice in the fall or mosquitos in the summer, they’re always in season. This time, the Rutherford County Sheriff's Office is sending up the Bat-Signal (again) to warn residents about a fresh new twist on the age-old "give us your money" routine.

In this thrilling sequel no one asked for, residents are getting calls from 615-208-3130, a number that’s pretending to be the Rutherford County Sheriff's Office. Even more impressively, the scammers are apparently channeling their inner method actor, posing as “Lt. Michael Carmen”—a man who, fun fact, has never worked for the department. Not once. Not ever. Not even on Bring Your Fake Lieutenant to Work Day.

To really drive the performance home, the scammers went so far as to mimic the Sheriff’s Office’s real voicemail system, which you can hear by dialing 615-898-7777. That’s right—they copied the whole thing. Bravo. A+ for effort, F for ethics.

The Sheriff's Office wants to make it abundantly clear: this is a scam. If you get one of these voicemails, the only thing you should be doing is rolling your eyes and deleting it—not reaching for your wallet.

So, to recap:

• No, Lt. Michael Carmen doesn’t exist.

• Yes, that voicemail is fake.

• And no, the real Sheriff’s Office doesn’t demand money over the phone.

If only scammers put this much creativity into literally anything else, we might have flying cars by now.

Stay sharp, Rutherford County. And remember: if it sounds suspicious, it probably is.