Bisbee Police Chief Tim Cox issued a press release Monday afternoon alerting the community to be aware of a scam where about an aggressive impostor calling claiming to be him after a local elderly woman was scammed out of nearly $10,000.

According to Chief Cox, the scammers are calling residents and falsely claiming to be him accusing victims of serious crimes such as drug manufacturing and money laundering. The caller then threatens immediate arrest and instructs the victim to purchase gift cards in amounts of $250, $500, or $1,000.

The scammers are very aggressive and warn the caller not to tell anyone and to stay on standby and wait for a call back. The scammer then calls back and tells the victim to provide the gift card numbers to resolve the case. Chief Cox said, “beware this is a scam.”