The U.S. Marshals Service and Federal Bureau of Investigation are warning of an ongoing telephone scam in which callers pretend to be marshals, court officers or other law enforcement officials in an attempt to get victims to pay off fines that don’t exist.
“During these calls, scammers attempt to collect a fine in lieu of arrest due to a claim of identity theft, failing to report for jury duty, or other offenses,” according to a joint release from the FBI and Marshals service. “They then tell victims they can avoid arrest by withdrawing cash and transferring it to the government, purchasing a prepaid debit card such as a Green Dot card or gift card and read the card number over the phone to satisfy the fine, or by depositing cash into bitcoin ATMs.”
The release says scammers will use various tactics to sound credible, including providing badge numbers, names of actual law enforcement officials and federal judges, and courthouse addresses. They may also spoof phone numbers so they appear to be calling from a government agency or court on caller ID.
One recent scam in the greater Philadelphia area involves the caller identifying themselves as an agent with Customs and Border Protection, then telling the target that a package containing illegal substances addressed to the target has been seized.
The caller will say that the package was sent from Mexico or Colombia and that various bank accounts used to wire money to Mexico and Colombia have been associated with…
