Florida woman nearly scammed by threat of an arrest warrant

SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. - Scam calls continue targeting people in Central Florida. 

Just this week, a woman says she received a call from someone claiming to be a Seminole County sheriff’s deputy and that she missed a court appearance, so now there’s a warrant for her arrest. 

The backstory:

The scammers told her it was related to a business loan she received in 2020 during COVID and that she must go straight to the sheriff’s office. The scammers even told her she was being tracked and was not allowed to hang up the phone.

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As she drove to the sheriff’s office, the person on the phone told her to pull over so she could review documents about paying for bail. 

Luckily, the victim’s son was alerted by the victim’s coworker, who had an actual sheriff’s deputy go to her location and stop the scam before the victim sent any money.

What they're saying:

The victim is only sharing her first name, Marlene, because she says the scammers knew nearly all of her personal information, including where she lives.

"How did they know that I banked at Seacoast? How did they know I had taken out a federal loan for COVID to keep my employees going," said Marlene. "They had my home address, so how do I know now that somebody isn’t stalking me?"

Marlene says her son’s warning message really woke her up.

"My son says to me, ‘Mom, you could have been the next Nancy Guthrie,’ and that really broke me," said Marlene. "He said if they were following you, once you pulled over, they could have pulled you out of the car. They could have taken you to an ATM. They could have withdrawn all your money, and then they would have killed you."

Now Marlene worries that this scam could happen to someone else.

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"I didn’t think about this at the time when they said about the bail money, but what they tell me from the Sheriff’s Office, when they have a warrant for your arrest they don’t warn you," said Marlene. "They come, knock on your door, and they take you."

Marlene says she filed a report with the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office, which released a statement to FOX 35 which reads: "Law enforcement will never contact you asking for payment. If people receive such calls or texts, they should hang up or delete the message."