DAYTON — A Dayton woman says she’s out of more than $10,000 after becoming the victim of an imposter scam.
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Jamie Cox has been taking pictures for just about her entire life. So when her phone rang last week, she thought it might be a potential client.
“He’s like, ‘Yeah, this is Sergeant Miller from the Dayton Police, and we have a warrant out for your arrest. Don’t talk to anybody, don’t tell anybody what you’re on the phone for. I just need you to get in your car and go,’” Cox told News Center 7 I-Team’s Consumer Investigative Reporter, Xavier Hershovitz.
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Having never had a run-in with the law, she wasn’t sure it was legit until they listed off her full name, birthday, and her full social security number.
They also sent a fake warrant with her name and a list of alleged charges and fines. They told her to go to what they called a “bonding kiosk,” which Cox later learned was a Bitcoin ATM.
Cox said she lost almost $13,000 in the scam. She added that the money was part of her son’s college tuition. He’s a freshman at the University of Dayton.
“It was like, my whole savings is just finished for no reason,” she said.
Jeremy Roy, Chief of Staff at the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, told News Center 7 that they’re seeing a lot of younger people getting targeted with similar scams. He added it’s “very concerning.”
“When they are very threatening on the phone, and they’re telling (you) they need to do it now and not to tell anybody,” Roy said. “When people get scared and concerned over stuff like that, sometimes they do things and they don’t think things through.”
Roy added that these scammers prey on people’s emotions, and the way they get the money makes it hard for victims to get it back.
“Unfortunately, a lot of times we’re not able to recover any of this money the way they’re doing these scams,” Roy said. “It’s not traceable.”
Still, he said it is critical for people to come forward and share what happened. Hopefully, that can prevent the next person from falling victim to these scams.
Cox added she’s embarrassed about falling for the scam.
“I don’t think anybody should be too embarrassed to tell other people so other people don’t go through the same thing,” she added.
Meanwhile, she’s working to try to recoup that money one photo session at a time.
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