After she got a call saying there was a warrant for her arrest, a Keller realtor checked it out

DENTON, Texas — Melanie Hartmann is a mom and real estate agent who has to answer every call on her cell phone. But Saturday, the voice on the other end of the line took her by surprise.

"He said, 'This is Captain Eddie Barrett with the Denton County Sheriff,'" recalled Hartmann. "He was very monotone, serious, professional."

Hartmann says the caller told her she faced an arrest warrant for failing to respond to a jury summons, and at first she believed him.

"He knew my name. He knew my birth date. He knew a property address we owned. He knew a lot of information," Hartmann said.

But when the caller told her that she would need to pay money to avoid further issues, she felt something was off. While she was on the line, her husband looked up the number that was on her phone's caller ID. It was indeed the number for the Denton County Sheriff's Department. When he called the office, an employee confirmed that there is a Captain Eddie Barrett with the department, but said he was not working at the time.

"IRS calls I knew were a scam, but this one kind of seemed legit," Hartmann said.

Hartmann said that the scammer appeared to be targeting real estate agents, as several of her colleagues said they'd been contacted too.

Today, the real Captain Eddie Barrett learned that his identity was used over the weekend to make several scam calls.

"I'm really disgusted by it," Capt. Barrett said. "Bad guys using my name to victimize people."

Barrett said that scam callers are a growing problem, and their techniques are becoming more and more sophisticated. He believes the caller may have found his name and position online, and he said it is frustrating because it is nearly impossible to track down the perpetrator.

"They can use the internet and applications to spoof numbers, and we can't track back," Barrett said. "Our only weapon is to tell the public that this is not true."

Barrett said it is imperative that you remain skeptical and cautious when receiving unexpected calls. He said you should not volunteer your name or any information to a caller, and it is best to report any incident to authorities if you believe you've been scammed.

"If you have the Sheriff's Office calling you in any way asking for money, it's a scam. It's not true," said Barrett.

Hartmann is glad that she did not lose any money, and she wants others to learn from her experience.