DELTONA -- A man who thought he was cooperating with what he believed were law enforcement officers may have, instead, unknowingly given away his identity to thieves.
Matt Fixsall, 20, was at the Deltona home of his girlfriend's grandmother Sunday night when a man wearing a badge knocked on the door telling him he was responding to a noise complaint from a barking dog.
Fixsall said the man was driving an unmarked Crown Victoria.
Fixsall let him and another man - who seemed like a pet rescue person -- into the backyard.
When Fixsall tried to ask questions, he said he was told to shut up or go to jail. Fixsall said the two men then took his picture, pictures of his dog, of his driver's license, birth certificate and Social Security card.
It wasn't until the men left that Fixsall called 911.
Volusia County sheriff's deputies told him the men were neither law enforcement nor animal control.
"Bullying you and saying, 'No, we're here for this. We're here for this, shut up, shut up, shut up,' but then you cross the line, definitely cross the line when you start asking for personal identification, birth certificate or Social Security card, those kinds of things an officer has no reason to ask you for," said Brandon Haught, of the Volusia County Sheriff's Office.
Fearing the men were trying to steal Fixsell's identity, he was told to call Lifelock, a group specializing in helping people who think their identity has been compromised.
Deputies said that they have very little to go on, but want to make the public aware they can ask questions and should call 911 whey they are not being permitted to ask questions.
"One of the first things you have to do is ask them, 'Who are you?' Ask them for some for some identification. A little badge on their chest isn't going to be good enough," Haught said.
They added law enforcement officers normally would not ask for a birth certificate.
Officials are asking the public to look out for people pretending to be authority figures such as police or animal enforcement.
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