Stafford residents targeted in phone scam that demands payment to avoid arrest.
by Hank Silverberg
CORRESPONDENT
Editor’s Note: FXBG Advance is pleased to welcome Hank Silverberg to our team as a correspondent. Hank is an award-winning journalist who spent 40 years covering politics and consumer issues for several radio and TV Stations. He is the author of four books and is currently an Adjunct Professor in Communications at Northern Virginia Community College. He lives in Spotsylvania County.
It’s an old scam with a new twist that has resurfaced in the Fredericksburg region and at least three people have fallen victim to it.
The Stafford County Sheriff’s office says they have received multiple reports of this phone scam.
Here’s how it works. You get a phone call from someone claiming to be a Sheriff’s Deputy. The caller I-D on your phone shows the non-emergency number of the Sheriff’s office which has apparently been “spoofed” by the scammer. You are told that you have missed jury duty, a warrant is now out for you, and you must respond quickly to avoid being arrested.
The caller says in order to prevent your arrest you need to transfer money to them. The new twist on this scam is that they want the money in Bitcoin and if you follow their directions, they will actually instruct you how to turn your cash into Bitcoin in order to pay the “penalty”.
Bitcoin is a widely accepted international cryptocurrency that allows you to securely send digital money on the internet. It is a legal currency. In previous versions of this scam, the caller would ask for pre-loaded check cards or gift cards to pay the penalty.
Stafford County Sherriff’s spokesman Ryan Wilbur says four people have fallen for this pitch over the last few weeks. One caught on at the last minute when he had trouble transferring the money. Three others lost money, including one victim who lost $1,000. A number of other local residents have gotten the call but have rejected the approach.
Wilbur says missing jury duty can indeed get you in trouble, but you would first get a letter from court services warning you of the violation. If you didn’t comply, you could be brought before a judge and fined anywhere between $50 to $200.
But Wilbur says the Sheriff’s Office would never call and threaten to arrest you or demand money over the phone. And he says they do not accept Bitcoin for any type of payment.
Part of the trouble in the new pitch is the “spoofing” of a legitimate non-emergency number for the Sheriff’s Office, making it appear the call is coming from the actual number.
Catching these criminals is difficult. Many of them are based outside the United States.
Variations of this scam have been perpetuated in Northern Virginia for several years and often target the elderly or people who are not familiar with the local court system.
Wilbur says that if you have any question about such a call, you should hang up and then call the Sheriff’s Office directly at 540-658-4400.
The State Consumer Protection Division of the Virginia Attorney General’s Office says that so far, they have not received any complaints about the new version of this scam.
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