Another Alexandria resident has fallen victim to scammers pretending to represent the Sheriff’s Office this fall, according to a recently released search warrant affidavit.
A woman was scammed out of $5,000 following interactions with suspects claiming to represent the Sheriff on Oct. 9, just three days after another resident was scammed out of $4,600 through a similar situation.
At around 1:20 p.m. Oct. 9, the woman told police that she got a call from a phone number with a 706 area code. She said that a male on the phone claimed to work for the Alexandria Sheriff’s Office, confirmed to the victim her name and address and told her that she had “several federal charges” against her, according to the affidavit.
Suspects told the victim she was served with papers in August, which she signed, and instructed her to send $1,000 via bar codes to a phone number with a 571 area code.
She was also threatened with three days jail time if she did not pay, according to the affidavit.
“[The victim] pulled money out of her bank account in cash and sent the cash to the bar codes at a pharmacy,” the affidavit reads. “[The victim] was then instructed by the subject to send $4,000 to an Apple Pay account.”
The victim sent the $4,000 to the Apple Pay account, which was connected to the 706 number that initially called her. She was then instructed to drive to the Alexandria Sheriff’s Office at 2003 Mill Road to get her money back.
“However, while en route to that location the subject told her that the person that would repay her was no longer available,” according to the affidavit. “The subject told [the victim] that she was ‘on a gag order’ and told her that she could not tell anyone about this interaction. The male subject then informed her that she would be contacted the following day, Oct. 10, at approximately 08:00 with further instructions.”
The victim provided police with screen shots of her interactions with the suspects, including messages requesting two payments of $1,500 and two payments of $500.
“The best way for someone to protect themselves from these scams is simply to hang up,” Sheriff Sean Casey said. “Don’t let your guard down and don’t be intimidated into providing personal details or financial information. Real deputies are not going to call you and threaten you with arrest, so just hang up if you get a call like that.”
Anyone who has been the victim of a scam should notify their financial institution and report it to their local police department. The Alexandria Police Department can be reached at 703-746-4444.
