BLOOMSBURG – If you get a call from someone pretending to be a Columbia County Sheriff but demanding you pay money for missed jury duty, hang up.

A scammer "who has done his homework" is calling around the area, telling residents that they've missed jury selection, says Chief Deputy Sheriff Earl Mordan.

He says he's Sheriff Tim Chamberlain or "Lt. Michael Ellis," Mordan said. And he tells the targets of the scam that Judge Gary Norton has issued a warrant for their arrest for missing jury duty. If they don't immediately go to a grocery or drug store and buy a PayPal cash card for $500 to $600, a sheriff's office deputy will be coming to their home or office to arrest them, the scammer continues.

Mordan said his office knows of at least one 87-year-old woman who purchased a card, and then called the scammer back to give him the numbers he needed to deposit the cash in his bank account. She was trying to keep her Parkinson's-afflicted husband out of jail, Mordan said.

She finally called the sheriff's office after the scammer demanded another $1,000. She was one of a "deluge" of calls to the office Friday morning, Mordan said.

The scam calls appeared to have begun on Thursday afternoon, and Mordan said at least 20 people have called the Sheriff's office about it. Mordan said the specific information about Columbia County employees that the scammer is using is available on the county's Web site. He said it appeared the caller was targeting the elderly.

We'll have more on this scam as we find out about it. Look for a complete story in Saturday's edition.