ALLEGHENY COUNTY, Pa. — The Allegheny County Sheriff’s Office issued a warning regarding a scam targeting criminal defendants.
Officials said a man arrived at the sheriff’s office and told detectives that following a lengthy phone call with an unknown individual identifying himself as Deputy Washington from the office, he was there to surrender to the same deputy.
Detectives told the victim there was no Deputy Washington.
The victim told officials he had also been texted two documents. The first document was a forged order of court telling the victim that he was going to be arrested for civil contempt for failure to appear. The second document was a forged order asking the victim to self-remand bond money and included a QR Code and the address of a Bitcoin kiosk.
Both documents contained official looking seals from the sheriff’s office and the courts, officials said.
The victim was told he could avoid arrest by depositing money into a Bitcoin kiosk using the information on the document, the sheriff’s office said. The victim deposited $1,100.
The victim was able to provide the phone number that he was speaking to and the kiosk information but a trace of both has yet to turn up any information about the scammers, the sheriff’s office said.
“The public, including criminal defendants, should be aware that our office will never seek to collect any fine or court payments over the phone or through an electronic funds transfer and will never transmit official documents via text message or discuss warrant information electronically,” the sheriff’s office said.
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