CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — If you recently got a call Monday morning from a man claiming to be a Nueces County official, threatening that you owed money or would be arrested, you certainly were not alone.
It was a scam that made its rounds Monday morning, and according to Nueces County Sheriff J.C. Hooper, several residents received that call and phoned it in to his office.
"He was using the name of the chief deputy and district court judge to intimidate people thinking they had missed jury duty and needed to settle up," said Hooper, who said unfortunately, there were residents who fell victim to the scam.
"From what we’ve been told, he’s been successful. Some people have paid this guy money."
One of those residents was local teacher, Angie Garcia-Sendejo. She tells 3News she doesn't want this to happen to anyone else.
She explained that because she didn't recognize the number, and the fact she has even warned relatives about similar scams, that normally she would have never even picked up the phone. However, she had considered the possibility that it may have been one of her student's parents.
Instead:
"This man said that I had missed a federal court jury summon and so I was going to be jailed for it," said Garcia-Sendejo. "In this case, I think I was just so paranoid that I was going to get arrested here at work that I didn’t listen to the red flags in my head."
Garcia-Sendejo said she became worried as the man, who calmly but also sternly, explained that she would get arrested if she did not pay up. She recalls the moment she began to really feel suspicious.
"He sent me to the bank to get money out and then he sent me a barcode, and sent me to a kiosk to go put the money in the kiosk, and use the bar code to pay. But then he said it was a mistake on there and that I was going to have to start all over again," Garcia-Sendejo said. "That’s when it began alerting me: why does he keep making mistakes?"
She said she told the scammer that she was going to the sheriff's office and that's when he hung up. When she called the number back, it was no longer in service.
Unfortunately in this case, Garcia-Sendejo said she did pay about $500, some of which, she was able to get back after her bank noticed some strange charges. A hard lesson she hopes others can learn from.
The sheriff explained these scams come through the area at times, and while officials do their best to get the word out, that cases like this are extremely difficult to prosecute due to jurisdictional issues.
"The cases are very difficult to investigate and even more difficult to prosecute because they usually involve state lines, even many of them originate in other countries," said Hooper. "So, whenever you have this type of crime being done over the internet or over telephone lines, it’s almost next to impossible to create a valid case and be prosecuted."
He advises doing what you can to protect yourself from the scammers. The moment you begin to feel suspicious: hang up. Also, be mindful of what you share to social media. Scammers may do the extra leg work to learn more about you and then better tailor their threats.
"So they know you’re a grandma and they’re going to pretend to be grandson in trouble in jail in Mexico, and if you don’t send a $1,000 quickly, your grandson is not gonna get out of jail in Mexico," Hooper said. "And the only reason a scammer knew that is because you celebrated your grandson's birthday on social media."
The sheriff reminding everyone of the ultimate red flag:
"You local police department, your local sheriff’s office will never call you and ask for payment over the phone or over the internet. That’s just not going to happen, it’s never happened and it never will happen."
You can contact the Nueces County Sheriff’s Office at 361-887-2222 should you have any questions or concerns.