Most everybody has all heard the saying “Buyer Beware” but have they heard of “answer at your own risk”? Everyday, scammers grow more and more sophisticated using tactics that are just down right dirty.
From the elderly being scammed by callers pretending to be a family member in trouble and needing money immediately to spoofed calls from the IRS or bank, there is no telling who could be on the other end of the phone these days. Most smart phones will let the recipient know if the caller calling is a spam call, don’t they?
One Carter County resident, who prefers to remain anonymous,recentlyencountered a situation that left them reeling and wondering how this could have happened to them. He was the recipient of a new scam call that is making its rounds. A fairly recent scam involving callers pretending to be county or federal officials are calling individuals stating they have a warrant out for their arrest in relation to failure to appear for Federal Jury Duty.
This type of scam call is exactly what the anonymous source encountered recently. He said it was an odd situation, but the caller almost sounded authentic.
“I was contacted by cell phone by a 405 area code number, which is the same area code as my cell number,” he said. “The screen briefly flashed ‘Spam Likely’, but it does that for a lot of legitimate calls as well.”
The Carter County resident stated that when he answered the call, he was greeted by what seemed to be a representative from the federal court system.
“He was very professional, spoke clear English and had no detectable accent or unique dialect,” he said. “He informed me that I was previously subpoenaed for federal jury duty and had signed the subpoena, stating that I would show up to court. He then informed me that since I failed to appear in court that two warrants had been issued for my arrest, one for Failure to Appear and one for Contempt of Court.”
Since the resident had recently attended federal jury duty, he said he knew that he had not signed a subpoena.
“I had no recollection of the subpoena, nor did I believe I was the person who actually signed the document,” he noted. “That aside, I didn’t want two outstanding warrants tied to my name. He texted a copy of one of the warrants signed by a sergeant and lieutenant while we were on the phone.”
After receiving the texted copy of the warrant, the resident was told to proceed to the sheriff’s office.
“He proceeded to tell me that this was a courtesy call and that I could avoid being processed at the sheriff's office as long as I posted the 10% fee at a federal kiosk prior to stepping foot on state government property, like the police station or sheriff’s office.”
That is when the caller proceeds to make the Carter County resident feel more pressure to comply. “He said no matter what I did, the sheriff’s department or police department would be forced to book me if I stepped onto government grounds and I could be held in custody for 3-14 days. He also stated that the bond fee would be reissued right back to me after a signature analysis was performed and a determination was made that it was not my signature on the subpoena.” After that is when the Carter County resident began to suspect that this call may not be a legitimate call. “The bond fee amount was over $3,000, which tipped me off, but again, he was very professional. Every time I told him that I had to just turn myself in, he circled back to the fact that I had two warrants out and they would arrest me on site. Eventually I hung up and called the sheriff's office. I was told that there were no warrants for me and that it was definitely a scam.” The almost would-be victim said that they were skeptical throughout the call but also “felt concerned without options”. Being in a situation like this can be quite nerve racking but the best thing to remember is to remain calm. Hanging up and taking a moment to think things through will allow anyone in a situation like this to take time and really evaluate what is happening. Calling the Carter County Sheriff's office was the best option in this situation. It allowed the Carter County resident to verify what they knew was to be a scam. Scammers tend to be very professional and well rehearsed. The Carter County resident stated that is why they stayed on the phone for over 30 minutes. “Thepersononthephonewas practiced, professional and had a legal answer for every question I asked.” Adding more concern to the situation is the amount of information these scammers have about their potential targets. “He also had my address, which was very unsettling.” After being on the phone for some time the Carter County resident felt “frantic and wasn’t thinking clearly” but began to realize that it was not a legitimate call. “I was frantic most of that time and wasn’t thinking very clearly. The federal kiosk was what made me pretty sure it was a scam. Had I gotten the cash and gone to the kiosk address he gave me, I am sure I would have been mugged.” Thankfully that was not the case, but unfortunately the scammers did not give up that easily. The next day the Carter County resident received a call from what appeared to be the finance company where they have an auto loan asking them to verify the information on their auto loan. Being leary from the call the day before the Carter County resident was quick to say no. “ I refused and told them to send any correspondence required through the mail. I am sure it was a scam as well, but it was from a company we have an auto loan through.” When asked why they thought they were being targeted, if there was a possible data leak they said there could be. “My guess is that there has been a security breach somewhere andsomebadpeoplehavemy information, but I have not been informed of where or how. We are definitely going to look into identity protection services.” Having one's personal information leaked can lead to a number of issues from credit to identity theft leaving the victims left to clean up a mess that is hard to prove and costly to fix. With so much of everyone’s personal information readily available there is no telling who will be victimized next. The best things to do are to stay vigilant, monitor your credit, and remain calm if confronted with a similar scam. This individual did the right thing by hanging up to verify with the local sheriff’s office. If you are in a situation similar and are being told not to hang up the phone that is the #1 indication that it is a scam. The Carter County resident wanted to tell their story so that others can be aware and not fall prey to the scammers tactics. “It was a brief nightmare, but it made me feel very vulnerable and gullible, not something I am generally known for. I hope others don’t get pulled into this.”