As I was leaving work today, I got two texts while I’m driving. “Will you hurry home” and “I’m in trouble. How can I get $3,000 quickly?” I asked her what was going on, tried calling, and she refused to answer. I later found out she was on the phone with the scammers who asked why she didn’t show up for jury duty and that she had to pay cash into a bitcoin machine right away, also telling her she couldn’t hang up or they’d send police to arrest her.

Right after she deposited the money, she realized how bad it looked and called the real police. She’s been sobbing all night. I’ve tried to tell her it will be ok, but I think it will be a few days before she gets over this.

I’m certain I wouldn’t have fallen for this, but I don’t understand how she did. She did say that they knew her name, address, and they were very intimidating on the phone. American accent, and they emulated the actual sherrif’s office phone number.


It sounds excessive, but I saw another post on here a little while ago suggesting to go over scam protection with your family every few months. We couldn’t believe the stuff my grandpa falls for, but this was just as bad. I hope she’ll be much more skeptical going forward.