Elaborate Jail Scam Targets Stafford Senior

STAFFORD COUNTY, Va. — A senior citizen was nearly taken for $3,000 during a would-be phone scam before authorities stepped in.

Stafford County Sheriff’s Deputy Kevin Courtman was called to a home on Smithfield Way in south Stafford on Monday after a woman received a phone call from what appeared to be her female friend stating she was in jail. The woman told the victim she was jailed in Fairfax County after running a red traffic light and colliding with at least one other car, said Stafford sheriff’s spokesman Bill Kennedy.

An apparent organized affair, the scammers were detailed as the woman told the victim she was leaving a doctor’s appointment in Washington, D.C. at the time of the crash and then collided with two other women after running the red light. She then told the victim a public defender appointed by the court would contact her and provide her with information that would allow her friend to leave jail.

A short time later, a man then called the victim, identified himself as a public defender and told the victim that all claims against her friend would be dropped if the victim agreed to go withdraw $3,000 from her bank account and payoff the supposed two other women involved in the crash. The man then gave the victim two different addresses in Peru to send the money to, said Kennedy.

If the he didn’t get the money, the man told the victim that her friend would remain in jail for 60 days because of the crash.

The victim and did not withdraw or send any money and then called the sheriff’s office. After Deputy Courtman arrived at the victim’s home, the phone rang once more and the so-called public defender was on the line. Courtman answered, identified himself as a law enforcement, and the man hung up and was not heard from again.

The victim later learned her friend was not in jail and was resting soundly at her home, said Kennedy.