CHATHAM COUNTY, Ga. (WSAV) – The Chatham County Sheriff and Savannah Mayor went undercover this weekend to find out who is behind a series of scams that attempted to defraud people out of tens of thousands of dollars.

Mayor Van Johnson and Sheriff Richard Coleman teamed up on an undercover mission to try and apprehend a scammer who is impersonating Chatham County Sheriff’s Department employees with fake paperwork and phone calls.

“People were saying that members of the Sheriff’s office were asking for money in addition to not going to jail,” Sheriff Coleman said. “Of course, that raised a red flag because we don’t ask for money here.”

It all started with a phone call, which wasn’t the first in a recent string of scam attempts over the last several weeks.

However, this time, the scammer called the wrong person.

“One of my young constituents called and asked me about this call they received, with an individual identifying himself as a member of the Sheriff’s office,” Mayor Van Johnson, said. “I called the individual back, and this individual talked to me. He told me exactly what it was I needed to do. I thought this was hilarious.”

That’s when the mayor decided to call his colleague directly.

“We began to conduct a criminal investigation based on that phone call,” Coleman said. “The Mayor of Savannah actually went undercover for me as a UC and me as the Sheriff being his immediate backup.”

Mayor Van said the scammer started giving him instructions, telling him to go to Walmart on Montgomery Cross Road and purchase money on cards, which he pretended to do.

“At that time, I was positioned in the parking lot for his safety and his protection because they said they were going to come out to the parking lot and meet him,” Coleman said.

However, the Mayor said the scammer had a different tactic in mind.

“He asked me for the number off the back of the card. I’m like ‘why would I give you the number off the back of the card? Well, we have to do a quality control check to make sure the card was okay. Once we do that, then you can go to the Sheriff’s office.’ I said I’m not doing that,” he said. “Once I pushed back, he said he was going to put me in prison.”

Coleman said the investigation is still open, but his office does have a suspect in mind.

“Verify any type of documents or information you may receive that just does not seem right,” he said.