The police sometimes get pretty creative in their efforts to crack down on the manufacturing, trafficking and consuming of drugs. But we haven't seen anything quite like Mint Hill Police Department's PSA, which they shared on Facebook on Monday (4 November).
The North Carolina force wrote: "The Mint Hill Police Department has been made aware of a new scam that we want the public to be aware of.
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"Some untrustworthy drug dealers are using their cell phone, instead of a certified scale to display the weight of the merchandise that they are selling. By placing the drugs on their cell phone, they can type in whatever weight they want, claiming it was the weight agreed upon during your transaction.
"Please do not become a victim of this scam. Contact us here at the Mint Hill Police Department and schedule to meet with one of our officers. We can assist you by weighing your purchase to ensure that you didn't get cheated out of what you paid for."
Okay, so this might not be what it seems.
Surely, and we stress surely, no one would actually be falling for this trick and this is just a humorous way for the cops to encourage people either not to do drugs or report their dealers.
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People on the force's Facebook page seemed to lap up the PSA.
One person wrote: "OK I just laughed out loud at this bl***y brilliant public service... I'm going to be interested in how many you get to ask for help."
A second added: "This is one of the best public service announcements I've seen in a long time. Please update your post with names and pictures of those nice people that take you up on the offer. Love this idea. Way to go MHPD."
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A third said: "As a public service the police department parking lot is designated a safe spot to conduct sales transactions. Call ahead and I am sure any one of the officers would be happy to supervise the exchange."
If there are people out there that are falling for a phone being used as scales, well then there's not much we can do to help you.