ANGIER – A western Johnston County man was swindled out of a large sum of money after receiving a phone call in November indicating he failed to show up for jury duty.
The 31 year-old victim said the scammer initially claimed he was a deputy with the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office. When the victim said he lived in Johnston County, the fraudster pretended to switch the call to a person posing as a Johnston County deputy sheriff.
The victim was convinced that if he didn’t pay $10,950 to retract an arrest warrant he would go to jail for skipping a jury duty summons.
Unfortunately, the victim obtained 22 different prepaid debit cards, totaling $10,950, and provided the card numbers.
Scammers frequently use the names of real law enforcement officers in an attempt to trick the victims into thinking the calls are legitimate.
So you’re telling us a “31” yr.old has his head stuck in the sand? That’s utterly ridiculous when all he had to do was to call the court house to verify!! SMH!! He should have lost the money, stupid is as stupid does!
Let’s see a 31 yo who has that kind of disposable money and was clearly scared abt an arrest warrant probably didn’t obtain the money by working cause he/she would be smarter than that.
Stupid is as stupid does
This crap I do not believe! The elderly I can understand more, and some my heart goes out for, but this claim is bogus.
He obtained 22 gift cards…….So he had 22 chances to figure out that this was a stupid thing to do, but he just ignored the red flags and did it anyway. He didn’t think to call the courthouse and verify the charges? How can somebody be this dumb at 31 yrs old?
if you told me I owed almost $11,000 for not showing up for jury duty, I would laugh at you and say good luck getting it! Who really believes the fine would be that high?
This person OBVIOUSLY feared LEO action for some reason… either illegal or on the run for something else!