Scam artists impersonating law enforcement officers are reportedly targeting seniors to steal thousands of dollars from retirement accounts.
Fox 4 reports that the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office in Texas is warning about the scheme following an incident involving an elderly veteran.
[adinserter block="1"]Scammers who pretended to represent the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office contacted retired US Air Force Tech Sgt. Bill Phillips by phone and informed him that he had two outstanding arrest warrants.
They also told Phillips that he had to pay $2,500 for each warrant to avoid going to jail. The perpetrators then walked him through the process of sending the money through two separate Bitcoin kiosks while preventing him from contacting anyone else for help.
Following Phillip’s first payment of $5,000, the scammers demanded two more $4,500 charges for additional fake warrants that they claimed were on behalf of the district attorney.
After receiving $14,000 from the victim, they again asked for another $3,000 purportedly for fees. Fortunately, a cashier intervened after recognizing what was happening and stopped Phillips from sending more money.
Detective Kristen Sanders with the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Department says scammers spoof legitimate numbers so that the caller ID falsely shows that the call is from law enforcement.
“Our secretaries here, our staff here field calls every day from people trying to verify if calls they’re getting are legitimate and, of course, we’re telling them it’s a scam, hang up on the number.”
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