Fulton County Sheriff’s Office says scammers are ramping up fake calls about arrest warrants

FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — The Fulton County Sheriff’s Office has a warning tonight about a phone scam that could cost you and your loved ones thousands of dollars.

Investigators in Fulton County told Channel 2′s Michael Seiden that criminals claiming to work for FCSO are calling their victims and telling them that they missed jury duty or a court date and have a warrant out for their arrest. Victims also told investigators that the scammers are threatening to arrest them unless they send money.

“We have spoken with someone who paid as much as $1,500 and they were able to pay them through PayPal,” said Lt. Jessica Stewart.

Stewart said investigators have seen a significant increase in reported incidents since the beginning of the year.

“We’ve seen about 15-20 calls per week,” she said.

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One of those calls came from Scott Ashworth, a retired police officer who works in corporate security, who said the scammers called him while he was at home with his family.

“He said he was a sergeant at the Fulton County Sheriff’s Department and that he had a warrant for my arrest based on a failure to appear in court,” said Ashworth. “I know from my time in law enforcement that mistakes can get made...I was concerned and I thought there’s a possibility there may be a warrant.”

Ashworth says he asked the caller to transfer him to a supervisor.

“Instantly, with no hesitation, he transfers me over to another human being,” he said. “And in the background, which is what’s so concerning and so well done by these perpetrators, is there’s noises of dispatch. There’s noises that you would regularly hear at a jail, and so extremely convincing.”

Growing more and more suspicious, Ashworth told the caller that he wanted to confirm that the man on the phone was really with the sheriff’s office, so he asked him for a good callback number.

“It was at that moment where they told me ‘No, you can’t disconnect the phone or we’re going to send a sheriff’s deputy to your house to arrest you!’” he recalled.

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Ashworth did not fall for the scam because he relied on his law enforcement training.

“I picked up on subtle things during the conversations, but these are subtle things that only a seasoned law enforcement veteran with experience would understand,” he added. “But for a regular person without the training, this sounded very realistic.”

When it comes to protecting yourself and your family, the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office wants you to remember that they will never request payments over the phone or in place of an arrest. They will also never accept payments outside of their office, meaning they don’t use PayPal. They add that they will never ask for personal information or bank card information over the phone.

The Fulton County Sheriff’s Office is now calling on the public to reach out with any tips and/or reports regarding this criminal activity. You can report it by clicking here or calling 404-612-5100.

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