The scammer posing as a Sherrif’s deputy gave her instructions that she could only pay the fee for not showing up to jury duty with cash and that the cash needed to be delivered to the Sherrif’s office. They even gave her the correct address for the office. She went to the bank to get the money, then she was told she had a responsibility to verify that the bills were legitimate. They gave her a location where she could get the bills verified in a “machine” and by using their company account, the verification would be free. This was a coinstar machine in a grocery store. She was told to put the money in the machine and it would scan it, then spit it back out so she could deliver it down the street. After she deposited the cash, she asked when it was supposed to come back out. The scammer just said, “It won’t.” Then he hung up.

She admits there were multiple times she should have spotted red flags. She’s mad at herself for not knowing how these things work. She’s so busy with work and kids (we had a dance recital to get to last night) that she legitimately believed that she would miss a jury duty assignment. She doesn’t understand what bitcoin is and didn’t know what the machine actually was. She wishes she would have put the guy on hold to answer when I was calling multiple times.

I finally got the story just as we were going to bed because she was so embarrassed and ashamed last night. This is becoming a huge hit to her confidence and I’m trying to console her.