Scammer posing as Colorado sheriff’s captain gets a call – from man he’s impersonating

When Capt. Chris Gulli of the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office made the call, he didn’t really expect the person on the other end to pick up.

After all, he was calling himself — in a way.

A phone scammer posing as Gulli had called residents to threaten them with arrest unless they paid off fictitious warrants, the Colorado sheriff’s office said in a news release.

So Gulli decided to call the number the scammer had left with some of his victims.

“Nine times out of 10, they never pick up,” Gulli told KDVR. “And this is the one time the guy picked up and said, ‘Captain Chris Gulli, Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office.’ And I was just shocked.”

The sheriff’s office posted Gulli’s recording of the bizarre call.

At one point, the real Gulli asks his impersonator, “Are you really an Arapahoe County sheriff captain?”

“Why would I not be, sir?” the scammer replies.

“I’m standing in the sheriff’s office and my shirt says Capt. Chris Gulli, so I’m kind of wondering what the story is,” Gulli says later in the call.

The startled scammer asks Gulli for his badge number, and Gulli requests his badge number.

“Well, I asked you first,” the scammer says.

The scammer eventually hung up, the sheriff’s office said.

“I was never expecting to talk to myself, no, and I don’t have that thick of a Southern accent, so I don’t know where he got that from,” Gulli told KDVR. “Obviously, his research wasn’t that good.”

Real law enforcement officers will never demand payment over the phone to clear up warrants or other fines, the sheriff’s office said. It encouraged Arapahoe County residents who receive such calls to call the department at 303-795-4711.

Arapahoe County is about 50 miles east of Denver.

This story was originally published August 21, 2023 at 8:08 AM with the headline "Scammer posing as Colorado sheriff’s captain gets a call – from man he’s impersonating."