Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office impersonators scam victims out of thousands
Scammers tell victims they’ve missed jury duty, have unpaid fines or are under investigation for other fabricated crimes.
Just three days after his wife passed away, Bill Phillips got a call that drained him more than just his emotions.
“The federal judge put two warrants out for you for failure to appear and contempt of court,” Phillips said.
The call was from someone claiming to be from the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office, and that the air force veteran had failed to appear for jury duty.
For the next five hours, Phillips says the caller instructed him to withdraw cash and pay the fines at Bitcoin machines across Tarrant County in order to avoid being arrested.
“They kept me on the phone, they said, you cannot mute it, don’t talk to anybody. Just do the minimum that you have to do to conduct business to get the money,” Phillips said.
Phillips says the scammers told him to come to a convenience store in Fort Worth to put his money inside the Bitcoin machine. It wasn’t until a worker inside told him scammed that he stopped turning over his money.
Altogether, the scammers got away with $14,000 from Phillips.
“I feel fortunate after hearing some of these other stories people giving over $100,000,” Phillips said.
“It’s always a request for funds that aren’t traceable. Money transfers, cryptocurrency, or prepaid gift cards. So then when it’s gone, it’s gone,” Sgt. Kristen Sanders said.
Sanders says the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office now gets calls every day about the scam, and even county employees have fallen victim. The scammers often use numbers associated with the sheriff’s office as well as names of deputies.
“If you don’t recognize the number, the best decision is to just not answer. My personal preference is if I have a number that I don’t know or I don’t recognize, I’ll let it go to voicemail,” Sanders said.
“I just had a lot of things going on with that time, and I fell into a trap that I should have fell into,” Phillips said.
Phillips now shares his story in hopes that others will not be drained of their dollars.
Scammers tell victims they’ve missed jury duty, have unpaid fines or are under investigation for other fabricated crimes.
Just three days after his wife passed away, Bill Phillips got a call that drained him more than just his emotions.
“The federal judge put two warrants out for you for failure to appear and contempt of court,” Phillips said.
The call was from someone claiming to be from the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office, and that the air force veteran had failed to appear for jury duty.
For the next five hours, Phillips says the caller instructed him to withdraw cash and pay the fines at Bitcoin machines across Tarrant County in order to avoid being arrested.
“They kept me on the phone, they said, you cannot mute it, don’t talk to anybody. Just do the minimum that you have to do to conduct business to get the money,” Phillips said.
Phillips says the scammers told him to come to a convenience store in Fort Worth to put his money inside the Bitcoin machine. It wasn’t until a worker inside told him scammed that he stopped turning over his money.
Altogether, the scammers got away with $14,000 from Phillips.
“I feel fortunate after hearing some of these other stories people giving over $100,000,” Phillips said.
“It’s always a request for funds that aren’t traceable. Money transfers, cryptocurrency, or prepaid gift cards. So then when it’s gone, it’s gone,” Sgt. Kristen Sanders said.
Sanders says the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office now gets calls every day about the scam, and even county employees have fallen victim. The scammers often use numbers associated with the sheriff’s office as well as names of deputies.
“If you don’t recognize the number, the best decision is to just not answer. My personal preference is if I have a number that I don’t know or I don’t recognize, I’ll let it go to voicemail,” Sanders said.
“I just had a lot of things going on with that time, and I fell into a trap that I should have fell into,” Phillips said.
Phillips now shares his story in hopes that others will not be drained of their dollars.