Scammers pose as law enforcement, fleecing residents out of thousands of dollars

Scammers pose as police to fleece victims

Some scammers are using an old trick to try to get thousands of dollars out of people.

ATLANTA - An old scam gets new life. Crooks are pretending to be police officers calling unsuspecting victims and fleece them out of their money by threatening them with jail time. That is just what happened to one Atlanta resident. Now, she’s out $1,500.

"I never thought something like this would happen to me," said Erin Heyman. She was driving Tuesday morning when she got a voice-message that made her slam the brakes.

A guy called claiming to be Sgt. Tanner with the Fulton County Sheriff’s Department. "It sounded very convincing," Heyman said.

She called back, reaching the guy posing as the sergeant. What he said next shook her. "They had a signed jury summons for me and I did not show up for court on February 10th. I was being charged on three counts of three class-3 misdemeanors," Heyman said. 

Heyman says the scammer told her to pay a fine. "He said you can bring $1,500 cash, $500 for each charge," she said. "If I got pulled over, I’d be immediately be arrested and taken to jail."

Heyman says she panicked. "I Venmo-ed $1,500 to a bail-bondsman." Except there was no bail bondsman, no Sgt. Tanner, just a Venmo account with the name Sydney Everett attached to it.

Simone Williams, with the Better Business Bureau of Atlanta and Northeast Georgia, says scammers can sound convincing and use high-pressure tactics to scare victims into forking over money.

"They target really anybody," Williams said. "Either you have unpaid warrants or have a package in your name they have seized, and they need a copy of your driver’s license and the money to fix that issue. Scammers are often threatening with fines, arrest or other penalties in the attempt to scare the consumer into immediate action."

Williams says don’t fall for it. "You want to hang up. Ignore the message. Close the door."

"They just caught me at the right moment for them, the wrong moment for me," Heyman said 

Heyman says she asked her bank to issue a stop-payment.

The Better Business Bureau says no government agency will call you demanding money. If you think an agency legitimately is trying to contact you, call the agency directly. Never transfer money or your personal information to strangers.

Contact police right away if you’ve been scammed. You can also go to the Better Business Bureau scam-tracker at: bbb.org/scamtracker.