A couple of weeks ago, TikToker Jill (@runningmom1085) nearly fell for a scam. While she was working out, she received a phone call from a private caller.
She answered the phone and was greeted with a male voice who claimed that he was an officer at the Champaign County’s Sheriff Department.
Earlier this week, Jill had stopped to help a cyclist who was hit by a car, and there was an off-duty police officer at the scene. She had given the officer her number, so she thought they were now calling about the incident.
However, he asked if she had received a jury summons around February 17 at her old address. She explained that she had since moved, so it possibly got lost in the mail.
He told her that they had received a signed card in the mail, stating that she would be on jury duty for a federal murder trial.
The trial was supposed to be held that morning, but because she didn’t show up, the trial was put on hold. There was now a warrant out for her arrest.
It all sounded a little fishy to Jill. She told him that she didn’t sign anything. He instructed her to come down to the sheriff’s office to take a handwriting test to prove that it wasn’t her signature.
Jill was still skeptical, so the officer provided her with his name and badge number and told her that he could give her a verification call from the main line of the sheriff’s department.
When she asked if she could call her husband, he told her that she couldn’t tell anyone that there was a warrant out for her arrest or that she was on jury duty for a murder trial.
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She added her husband to the call, but the guy on the other line told her that she broke the confidentiality agreement. She grabbed her stuff and headed out to the car to drive to the sheriff’s office.
Then, the guy told her to go to the courthouse and send a bond payment from a bond kiosk. She also needed to get a printout of her warrant so that she wouldn’t be arrested on the way to the sheriff’s office.
He ordered her not to hang up, or else she would be arrested. She Googled the phone number, and sure enough, it was from the Champaign County’s Sheriff Department.
She also texted her friend, who was a police officer, about what was happening.
Her friend immediately texted back, telling her that it was a scam. She hung up and called the sheriff’s department. They explained to her that it was a scam. The scammer would’ve given her a fake phone number to send money to.
“So, I was just hysterical on the phone…and really embarrassed, and as I was on the phone with the actual sheriff, the scam guy was trying to call me back from the same sheriff’s phone number,” said Jill.
“It’s wild the way they can do these things.”
By Emily Chan
Emily Chan is a writer who covers lifestyle and news content. She graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in... More about Emily Chan
