A Lakewood resident nearly handed over $15,000 in cash (pictured) in an elaborate scam involving a fake arrest warrant, a phony Ocean County Sheriff’s Office caller and a fabricated jury duty case.
The victim tells TLS he received a call from someone claiming to be from the Ocean County Sheriff’s Office. The caller told him that he had missed jury duty and was now facing charges.
The scammer then claimed he would transfer the resident to a captain to verify the claims and charges. He also made the victim read off some pages he sent him – one of them is attached here:
The scammer told the resident that he could not hang up because there was an active arrest warrant for him. He was also instructed not to tell anyone about the situation, with the scammer claiming it was a private jury matter.
At one point, the scammer instructed the resident to get into his car and read the odometer. When the resident said he wanted to call his lawyer, the scammer allegedly told him, “We have to book you first.”
The scammer then offered him another option: posting $15,000 bond.
The resident was instructed to go to Chase Bank and withdraw the money in cash. He was told not to tell anyone on social media about the situation and, according to the scammer, he could not even tell the banker the real reason for the withdrawal because it was a private matter.
The scammer also told the resident to claim the money was for an attorney and insisted that he remain on the phone because they believed he might “run.”
After withdrawing the $15,000, the scammer told the resident that he would provide an address where the cash should be dropped off.
However, the resident became suspicious when he was told to go to an address not in the direction of Toms River – where the courts are located. He looked up the address on Google and discovered that it was a deli.
When the resident questioned the scammer and asked if that was really the correct address, the scammer allegedly responded, “Yes, that’s the right address.”
The victim, feeling something was off, then uploaded the supposed arrest warrant online to double-check it and quickly realized that it did not look legitimate.
He flagged down a police officer and got the scammer on the phone. As soon as the scammer realized that law enforcement was involved, he hung up.
B”H the victim was saved minutes before handing over the cash.
The incident serves as a serious reminder that scammers are becoming increasingly sophisticated, using official-sounding titles, fake legal documents and threats of arrest to pressure victims into immediately handing over large sums of money.
Did the officer follow up and go to the deli and arrest the scammer?
Jury duty is not a private matter.
Please, Rabboisai, ask questions and get answers. Sooner or later you’ll catch the scammer in his own lies.
“A Lakewood resident ‘was’ nearly handed over. Typo. Should be “a Lakewood resident nearly handed over $15,000.
Ty. Sometimes we is do make mistakes.
Lol. I hear what is you saying.
Bh I don’t have that kind of money in my bank. Would never be able to fulfill these scams.
Lol. Thinking the same.
I was going to say the same thing!
Can’t be scammed out of $15k in cash if I dont have $15k in cash, so I got nothing to worry about.
We need a serious public education campaign to be launched. How many times can we allow this to repeat itself?
I encourage the Lakewood scoop to take a stand.
Yes, especially with many senior citizens moving to town. We need just a basic well-researched guide and/or checklist to go through to know when you should suspect fraud and what to do about it.
It is very simple. No government agency will contact you by phone, text or email. If there is a warrant for your arrest, you will know about it when the police come to your door with it. If you get a phone call like this resident got, simply hang up the phone. If it is legitimate you will be notified via US Mail or a personal visit.
Peeking from experience, any time that a person has legal problems. No one does it by the phone.
If you get a phone call that says Pay this or jail – even it’s Legit, you must have a document.
BTW, when they have something legit and they claim that you’re in trouble, they act on it.
First they send paperwork.
Then they come.
They never just Call.
How do I know?
Because after they sent the paperwork, the OC Sheriff’s Department came to arrest me.
Never give out $ from any Phone Call, unless you Know!
That includes Tezdaka Gelt.
a real law enforcement officer, would never ask for cash and never tell you not to tell anyone…
Kol hakovod to the victim for being mefarsem this ltoeles harabim
This might due to the total lack of basic knowledge and education to function in society.
Anyone who paid attention in class up to second grade should know –
1) Any finances connected to local sheriff and state court system will have nothing to do with the US treasury which is a branch of the federal government.
2) Ocean County is local government. It does not enforce federal law or anything to do with US district courts.
2) Governments never ask you to do anything in cash or outside the federal banking system.