(NewsNation) — A phone scammer pretending to be a sheriff’s captain got a surprise when he called by none other than the real officer he was impersonating.

The Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office in Colorado is investigating the scammer, who was calling residents and threatening them with arrest unless they sent money to clear up warrants.

The real Capt. Chris Gulli got wind of the scam and decided to dial the phone number.

“The next thing you know, he answered,” Gulli said Tuesday on “Dan Abrams Live.” “(Scammers) never answer, but for some reason, he answered.”

The sheriff’s department is aware of at least five people who received calls from the scammer.

It will be difficult to find out the person’s identity, Gulli said, because of the ability to mask the phone number.

“Based on his accent, I’m guessing somewhere down south,” Gulli said of the suspect’s potential location.

With the help of technology, scammers are tricking Americans out of more money than ever before.

In 2022, reported consumer losses to fraud totaled $8.8 billion — a 30% increase from 2021, according to the most recent data from the Federal Trade Commission. The biggest losses were to investment scams, including cryptocurrency schemes, which cost people more than $3.8 billion, double the amount in 2021.

To prevent falling victim to phone scams, police departments advise people to never give out personal or financial information.

“We never asked for Venmo payments or Apple gift cards or Visa gift cards, or anything like that. We tell you just to show up to court,” Gulli said. “Anytime there’s a high pressure ‘you need to give me money, you need to give me money now,’ that’s a scam.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.