ALLEGHENY COUNTY, Pa. — An Allegheny County man is warning the public about a scam call he received this week from a man pretending to be a detective with the Allegheny County Sheriff’s Office.
James Kennedy said he got a voicemail on Wednesday from a man claiming to be “Detective Hawkins” and they were calling for a legal matter.
“It felt legitimate enough that I called back,” Kennedy told Channel 11′s Andrew Havranek.
The caller said Kennedy had missed his summons for jury duty and was now facing several charges.
The scammers even texted him documents that appeared to be an arrest warrant showing he was being charged with failing to appear, contempt of court, and avoiding civil duties.
They also said he owed a lot of money.
“The initial figure was $95,000 that I had a penalty of that figure and that there was a way to reduce it to 10% of that. They had a very specific number, it was like $9,542, and even had pennies,” Kennedy said. “I couldn’t believe, but I felt confident that it was a number just below $10,000 which is all you can withdraw from a bank.”
That was one of the first red flags Kennedy had.
Then they gave him two addresses for convenience stores on Butler Street to go to a Bitcoin kiosk, and to stay on the phone while he was driving with the money.
“I think somebody could fall for this and I imagine, ‘what would happen if somebody had an envelope with a tremendous amount of money and they’ve arrived where somebody was a criminal?’” Kennedy said.
Kennedy recorded part of that phone call, and told the scammer he was being recorded.
“They hung up in a split second,” Kennedy said.
The Allegheny County Sheriff’s Office said this scam is quite common.
In a statement to Channel 11, the sheriff’s office said, “These types of calls happen every day and usually involve a story that the person receiving the call has missed a court appearance or jury duty and if they don’t pay money right away, they are in danger of being arrested for contempt of court.
As always, Sheriff Kevin M. Kraus reminds all residents that our office would never serve a warrant by phone and would never ask for any sort of payment over the phone. Our office also DOES NOT use any sort of electronic transfer of funds when dealing with warrants or fines, including the use of Venmo, Zelle and other phone apps, nor would we ask for payments in gift cards or cryptocurrency.”
Kennedy said he understands how people can get scared into thinking this is real.
“I think people respond to that [fear]. They want a clean record. They don’t want to be in any trouble,” Kennedy said. “If you’re not in my contacts, I’m not picking up. I didn’t pick up your phone call!”
The sheriff’s office said if you receive one of these scam calls to report it to their investigations unit by calling 412-350-4709.
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