Scammers threatens unsuspecting victim after Wilmington woman calls them out

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) – It seems like everyday criminals come up with ways to scam unsuspecting people out of their money, personal information or property.

With so much personal information available online, scammers have become more convincing.

A Wilmington woman, who we will call “Barbara” for this story, got a call that shook her to the core.

“When I called him out on it, that’s when he freaked out and got super angry and then hung up,“ she said.

She wants to stay anonymous out of fear, after what happened when she picked up the phone the second time.

“He called back ten minutes threaten to come and rape me, and kill me and he said he knew where I live,” she said.

It started when the man on the phone claimed to be from sheriff’s office. he had her old address, and informed Barbara she missed jury duty, and that a warrant was now out for her arrest. He then directed her to put money on a card she can buy at a local pharmacy.

“I was starting to think that it was probably legit because I hadn’t lived there for years, I don’t know what’s going on over there.”

The scammer told Barbara someone at that address signed for the jury duty document.

“He gave me the lieutenant name, he had the number to contact him back he even told me to come to the Sheriff’s Department,” she said.

Which only made the scam more believable but according to New Hanover County Sheriff Ed McMahon, just before the victim gets to the office the scammer calls the victim back.

“Somehow they will tell you call us back, or they will call you back and say, hey, listen, the sheriff had to leave and he’ll call you back,” he said.

And that is how they scam unsuspecting victims, according to McMahon.

“If they are aggressive, if they are trying to make you make a quick decision, don’t do it,” he said.

According to McMahon, when in doubt, hang up and call the company or agency the person on the other end of the line claims to be and verify their identity before losing your hard-earned money to criminals.

Sheriff McMahon said, threats like Barbara experienced rarely happen, but if they do report them to law enforcement immediately. They take all calls like this seriously.