LEE COUNTY, Ga. (WALB) - A Lee County woman was nearly scammed out of $500 after she got a call from someone posing to be with the Lee County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO).

Heather, who didn’t want to give her last name, told WALB that she got a call about missing jury duty and that she needed to come up to the sheriff’s office to clear things up.

At the moment, she thought she was being a law-abiding citizen, but then, as the conversation continued, she started to realize something was not right when the scammer first asked her to bring $500 to the sheriff’s office.

“But from there he went on to say that I need to take the $500 to CVS, and then I said, ‘How do I know this isn’t a scam? This seems like a scam.’ So, I actually went to CVS and talked to the manager there, and he said this happens all the time and that sometimes they can’t talk people out of giving them their money,” she said.

That’s when Heather hung up and called the Lee County Sheriff’s Office just to be on the safe side.

The Lee County Sheriff’s Office says the callers will often demand payments through prepaid cards, wire transfers, or mobile payment apps, to “clear” the warrant and avoid arrest.

The sheriff’s office asks people who encounter these scams to:

• Hang up immediately. Do not engage in conversation with the caller.
• Do not give out personal or financial information or send money.

It’s also important to remember that arrest warrants are served in person, never handled by phone payment.

Scammers often use spoofing technology to make it appear the call is coming from a legitimate agency.

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