Scammers used artificial intelligence to mimic the voice of Sheriff\u2019s Capt. Will Holton, tricking a local resident into handing over $7,500 in bitcoins to avoid a fabricated arrest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Holton explained that the victim received a phone call from someone posing as him, claiming she had a warrant for her arrest due to missing jury duty. The scammer convinced her to withdraw $7,500 from her bank, instructing her not to reveal the reason for the withdrawal. The caller then provided her with a QR code and directed her to deposit the money into a bitcoin account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After following the instructions, the victim visited the sheriff\u2019s office to speak with Holton, who was unaware that his name and voice had been used in the scam. Holton emphasized that sheriff\u2019s deputies never request money for missed jury duty or arrest warrants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf we need you, we will come to your door in uniform,\u201d Holton said. \u201cNever ever share personal information or send money over the phone, especially through bitcoin or any other digital transaction.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The scam is currently being investigated by Sheriff\u2019s Detective Jesse Gammel. The scammers even spoofed the Sheriff\u2019s Office dispatch number to make the call appear legitimate. The victim was directed to use a bitcoin ATM at a convenience store, converting the cash into bitcoins, which were then sent to the scammer via a QR code.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s digital currency in a digital wallet that only the scammer can control,\u201d Gammel explained. Once the money was converted into bitcoin, it was quickly divided through several transactions across multiple digital wallets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While recovering the funds is unlikely, Gammel and his team are exploring possible ways to retrieve some of the $7,500. He noted that each case varies depending on the circumstances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you receive a suspicious call from a Sheriff\u2019s Office number demanding money, it\u2019s likely a scam.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Scammers used artificial intelligence to mimic the voice of Sheriff\u2019s Capt. Will Holton, tricking a local resident into handing over $7,500 in bitcoins to avoid a fabricated arrest. Holton explained that the victim received a phone call from someone posing as him, claiming she had a warrant for her arrest due to missing jury duty. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4760,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[124,169,195,15],"tags":[180,190,155,196,47],"class_list":["post-4762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ai-scams","category-bitcoin-scam","category-deepfake-scam","category-scam","tag-ai-scam","tag-bitcoin-scam","tag-crypto-scam","tag-deepfake-scam","tag-scams"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ripandscam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4762","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ripandscam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ripandscam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ripandscam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ripandscam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4762"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ripandscam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4762\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4763,"href":"https:\/\/www.ripandscam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4762\/revisions\/4763"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ripandscam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ripandscam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ripandscam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ripandscam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}