EAGLE MOUNTAIN, Utah — Last week, Brandee Wing's husband received a call from an unfamiliar number pretending to be from the Utah County Sheriff's Office.
"They contacted him and said that he had missed jury duty in Eagle Mountain, where we had just moved from about four months ago, and that they had a certified letter he had signed from the post office," Wing said.
Wing says the scammers told her husband he needed to send them $3,000 for missed jury duty, and then bring the receipts in person to the sheriff's office to avoid arrest.
"If they would've said he had a warrant for a crime, he knows he didn't commit a crime," Wing said, "But missing jury duty at our old residence, he thought, 'Well maybe it could've happened because we had a P.O. box.' So him being the sole provider, he'd rather pay to make sure he doesn't go to jail."
Wing says the scammers knew a lot of their personal information including their former address, current address, and P.O. box address, and they gave the name of someone they thought to be a current employee of the sheriff's office.
"We always have only one mortgage ahead to pay in case anything ever happens, so we have that money and that's one mortgage away from not being able to make our mortgage," Wing said. "This isn't just money — this is feeling violated, it's understanding that we're all vulnerable. Nobody understands how good these people are."
Sgt. Spencer Cannon with the Utah County Sheriff's Office says it's nearly impossible to recover the losses people take in a scam like this.
"When they get a cash card and give the scammer the number on the back of the cash card, they take that number and transfer that money to some place," Cannon said. "Even if we track that number to an account, it's almost always offshore, and always shut down by the time we make contact with the bank."
Cannon says sometimes these scammers try to find ways to gain credibility with potential victims through different tactics — sometimes even using the names of real employees at the sheriff's office.
"Another thing they're doing that's a little scary is they've been able to somehow clone or spoof their phone numbers so the number that comes up on caller ID is an actual number for the sheriff's office, but the number they left in their voicemail to call back was not that same number," Cannon said.
To avoid being scammed, Cannon says if you get a call and things start to sound suspicious, hang up and contact a legitimate source.
"If they're telling you you have a warrant, say out of Utah County Justice Court, look up the Utah County Justice Court online and call them or any court," Cannon said.
Wing is now trying to raise awareness for these types of phone scams, saying there are still people out there who don't use social media or watch the news and have no idea these types of scams exist.
"If you're one of those people that know about these scams, tell other people," Wing said.
Wing has started a GoFundMe to help recuperate her family's losses.
