The Allegheny County Sheriff's Office is warning residents of a scam that saw an Allegheny County resident lose $18,000.
A 33-year-old woman was contacted by a person pretending to be Lt. Mullen from the Sheriff's Office, citing she was mailed a subpoena to be an expert witness on a case.
Due to her not responding, she was being threatened that she must post bail, or she'd be taken to jail on failure to appear, contempt of court and defying a judge's order.
After the one-minute phone call, it was disconnected. She tried to respond back, but to no avail. Over an hour-long phone conversation later with someone called, "Captain Stephens," said Lt. Mullen was no longer there.
The victim was told to pay the $8,000 for bail and purchase gift cards to pay the amount.
She went to Giant Eagle to purchase seven $500 gift cards and the remaining $4,500 were used at Rite-Aids in Pittsburgh.
She was instructed to prove the cards' activation by sending them to the "Treasury Department." An "Agent Meadows" spoke to the victim and confirmed the bail was paid.
The last part of this scam came when the victim was contacted by an 8-4-4 number. FBI Special Agent "James Robertson" told the victim they needed $5,000 to secure her bond on the federal charge and an additional $5,000 to clear the warrant immediately.
This time, the victim paid in Apple Pay and sent the money over, totaling in $18,000 sent to these scammers.
According to the victim, Lt. Mullens and Captain Stephens sounded as if they had a southern accent, but FBI Special Agent Robertson did not.
The Sheriff's Office cannot stress enough that this is not how we conduct business involving warrants and never ask for payment in the form of gift cards.
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