March 7, 201610 yr On Saturday, I received a call from the "Kenton County Sheriff Department". They said I had failed to report for jury duty and that I now had an outstanding warrant for my arrest. I actually did receive jury duty in Kenton County back in December but got out of it as I live in Lexington now. The person sounded very official and basically lured me into believing that I was going to be arrested if I did not get a "bail voucher" to release my warrant. I don't know how the warrant division handles things, it seemed legit to me. I was told to stay on the phone with him as I drove to the bank to withdraw the cash ($1,000) and then to Kroger to purchase a "Recharge" card. After reading the card number to him, that was going to electronically revoke my warrant and also provide me a court date where I would receive a reimbursement check. Typing it out now, it is obviously a scam. But the scam artist had my adrenaline pumping so much and I was in fear of being arrested so I was just doing whatever I was supposed to not be arrested. Long story short, I was next in line at Kroger's to load the money onto the pre-paid debit card per his orders. My wife was talking to my parents on her cell phone and they told her to have me hang up as they knew it was a scam. So I didn't lose any money but I just wanted people to be aware of this especially in Kenton County. I did a lot of Google searches and apparently this is a nationwide scam that has cost a lot of people a lot of money.
March 7, 201610 yr Yes, these and others like them happen quite often. There is an IRS Scam that takes in a lot of people also, caller says they are from the IRS and there is a Federal Arrest Warrant for you but you can pay your back taxes and it will be rescinded. I know one person that actually paid it and was immediately told there was a mistake and that they actually owned another $1700 that was due immediately. The person I know actually went to his employer and asked for an advance, fearing that he was about to be arrested.
March 7, 201610 yr I'm glad you didn't lose any money and yes, this was certainly a scam. At least you figured it out before you became a victim. I don't know of any counties that do things this way, but if ever in doubt about something similar just call your county clerk and ask them if you have a warrant. Again though I'm glad you didn't lose any money and thank's for providing a heads up to others.
March 7, 201610 yr Author I'm glad you didn't lose any money and yes' date=' this was certainly a scam. At least you figured it out before you became a victim. I don't know of any counties that do things this way, but if ever in doubt about something similar just call your county clerk and ask them if you have a warrant. Again though I'm glad you didn't lose any money and thank's for providing a heads up to others.[/quote'] One thing I did learn is that these scams usually occur on weekends so you can't call to confirm as the courts and sheriffs office are closed on the weekends. He also made it urgent by saying I needed to have the money to clear my warrant by 2:00 p.m. or else deputies would be dispatched to my home to arrest me.
March 7, 201610 yr One thing I did learn is that these scams usually occur on weekends so you can't call to confirm as the courts and sheriffs office are closed on the weekends. He also made it urgent by saying I needed to have the money to clear my warrant by 2:00 p.m. or else deputies would be dispatched to my home to arrest me. The weekend deal would definitely help them catch more peoples attention due to not being able to call the clerk or S.O. to see if they did in fact have a warrant. Another rule of thumb with that though is that it's not likely, if ever, that you will have an officer come to your home to serve a misdemeanor warrant. Those guys have too many other things to deal with on a daily basis to show up at someones house at a specific time to serve a jury duty warrant. A felony warrant would be a different story, but with things like missing jury duty, small fines etc they generally wait until your name is ran from getting pulled over etc. The only reason I mention that is to educate anyone else that may get a phone call similar to yours. If it comes on a weekend and you can't call the clerk, I'd just take my chances and wait until Monday to speak to someone I know is legit, or call an attorney to check on it for me. I seriously doubt the police are coming to anyone's house to arrest them for missing jury duty.
March 8, 201610 yr I hope you called the Kenton County Sheriffs office to report this. Even more important than calling the Sheriff's Office, call the Attorney General's office. I was called with the same scam here in Jefferson County. These folks are very good. I'm in the legal profession and see this stuff every day and they almost had me going. The thing that ultimately gave it away for me was that the person calling identified himself as a major, a rank that would NEVER be concerning himself about a bench warrant. Also, they'd never call about a bench warrant at any rank. Turned out when I talked to them that the AG's office has been investigating this scam for a while. Talk to them and give them as much info as you can.
March 8, 201610 yr I've never known police to call you and tell you that you have a warrant. Any time anyone in that situation asks you to go to a store and get a money order, or gift card etc....it's most likely a scam. If these people call any of you, either hang up or get as much info from them as you can without giving any up to them. Did you have an address to send the money? Was it out of state?
March 8, 201610 yr Author I've never known police to call you and tell you that you have a warrant. Any time anyone in that situation asks you to go to a store and get a money order' date=' or gift card etc....it's most likely a scam. If these people call any of you, either hang up or get as much info from them as you can without giving any up to them. Did you have an address to send the money? Was it out of state?[/quote'] No address. I was supposed to read him the PIN number on the Recharge card and I think he could get the money that way. He said once I read him the number, I would be electronically sent a court date and my warrant would be cleared. I did see some articles that 51 people were recently arrested for this scam at a Georgia state prison. But the scam is still going as this just happened to me Saturday.
March 8, 201610 yr My company did a little internal testing on email scams to see how many reported them as spam and how many actually acted upon them. I was 3 for 3 on spotting the scam. They produced stats and the actions of the employees. Pretty sad what people can be talked into believing.
March 8, 201610 yr My company did a little internal testing on email scams to see how many reported them as spam and how many actually acted upon them. I was 3 for 3 on spotting the scam. They produced stats and the actions of the employees. Pretty sad what people can be talked into believing. Not all that impressive when you're sitting in the front row.
March 8, 201610 yr No one would ever call you to tell you that you had a warrant for your arrest. That should have been the first, very early, red flag about this. Glad you didn't lose any money.
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