BEXAR COUNTY, Texas – Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said that two women were recently scammed out of $47,500 in separate cases.
In an effort to eliminate future scams, Salazar said he sent a request to the San Antonio City Council to create a city ordinance. According to Salazar, the sheriff’s office drafted its own ordinance to expedite the process.
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“We took the liberty of designing what we think the sign should look like, if they’re able to do this for us,” Salazar said.
Woman scammed out of $25K
The sheriff said a 64-year-old woman was scammed out of $25,000 on Jan. 28.
Ironically, Salazar said the scammer used BCSO’s non-emergency dispatch phone number to contact the woman.
The woman was told that she was issued a gag order and could not speak with anyone during the phone call.
According to Salazar, the woman was told that she had missed jury duty.
To clear a fine, the sheriff said the caller advised the woman to go to multiple ATMs to send money to them. However, she was purchasing Bitcoin.
The caller allegedly kept the woman on the phone for multiple hours. By the time deputies contacted her, Salazar said that the woman was in an “emotional state.”
Woman joins Zoom meeting with fake judge
Approximately two weeks later, another woman was scammed out of thousands of dollars. This time, according to Salazar, a 48-year-old woman lost $22,500.
The woman was also told that she was issued a gag order and could not speak with anyone while she was on the phone.
Her husband, who received multiple text messages from the woman but no calls, later reported her as a missing person, Salazar said.
The woman was told she had to pay a fine for missing jury duty, the sheriff said. Salazar said the woman spoke to approximately five different people over the course of the eight-hour phone call.
Deputies eventually found the woman in the 800 block of Bitters Road after the GPS in her vehicle led them to her location.
Even with the deputies face-to-face, Salazar said the woman requested permission from the scammers to speak with them.
During the phone call, the sheriff said that one of the scammers gave the woman a QR code to join a Zoom meeting with a judge.
“They actually did a Zoom call with her,” said Salazar. “She spoke to somebody that she was under the impression was a judge, even though she couldn’t see his face.”
Salazar said the scammers also provided the woman with two fake court documents: an arrest warrant and a maintain contact order.
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