Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele and Montgomery County Sheriff Sean P. Kilkenny are alerting the public to a jury duty phone scam that has returned to our area, where the perpetrator impersonates a Montgomery County deputy sheriff and instructs the resident to deposit money in a Bitcoin kiosk while they stay on the phone with them. These scam phone calls are being received in the county at this time, and the Montgomery County Detective Bureau is actively investigating this scam.

            Numerous people have lost money ranging from more than $1,300 to more than $23,000 by falling prey to this sophisticated scheme. The caller knows a lot of personal information about the resident and scares the resident into believing that law enforcement will come to their home and arrest them if they don't immediately deposit the money.

            The scammer claiming to be Lt. McDonald or some other name from the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office calls residents from a spoofed (fake) phone number that looks like it is coming from the local Montgomery County area code of 610. In the call, the scammer tells the resident that they owe money for missing federal jury duty or some other court-related matter and directs them to start driving toward the Montgomery County Courthouse.

            Victims are kept on the phone with the fake sheriff and are typically diverted prior to arriving at the Courthouse. They are then instructed to deposit significant amounts of money into a specific Bitcoin kiosk.

            "Asking for a cryptocurrency payment for any court-related matter is a huge red flag. No legitimate law enforcement agency, the Sheriff's Office or the court will ever request payment via a Bitcoin or other cryptocurrency ATM," said DA Steele.

            "Further, no money is involved if there is a warrant issued for someone's failure to appear in court for jury duty or for any other reason. A failure to appear warrant must be handled in a courtroom in front of a Court of Common Pleas Judge. Anyone who has gotten one of these calls should not comply with any of their demands and should not deposit any money into a Bitcoin ATM."

            "Our Deputy Sheriffs do not operate in this manner," said Sheriff Kilkenny. "Sheriff personnel will never call a resident to demand money to satisfy a warrant or demand money for any reason."

            If a resident receives this scam call, they should immediately disconnect from the call and call the main Montgomery County Courthouse phone number of 610-278-3000 and ask for the Sheriff's Office. Calling the courthouse main number and then being transferred to the sheriff's office will avoid any issue of spoofed numbers. Do not call the number that the caller gives you, as they will then answer the fake number as if it's the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office.

            Anyone who receives one of these calls should document the date, time and phone number shown on caller ID, then call the Montgomery County Detective Bureau at 610-278-3368 to report the call and speak to a detective.

            Montgomery County Detectives are working with the establishments where Bitcoin kiosks are located to place warning stickers on the Bitcoin ATMs. The warning stickers warn users about depositing large amounts of money at the instruction of someone they do not know.