Scammers posing as officers take $25,000 from Florida woman

Pasco County reports 44 jury-duty scam complaints this year

Kimberly Fudge was at work in Florida when she answered an unknown number at 10:43 a.m. on a Tuesday last month. The caller said he was from New Port Richey in Pasco County, verified her identity and transferred her to a person posing as a sheriff’s deputy.

The caller told Fudge she had missed jury duty in a federal case despite signing a promise to appear. An angry judge, he said, had issued an arrest warrant. The caller knew Fudge’s parents had retired from the Hillsborough County sheriff’s department and offered a way to resolve the matter: She could pay bail, report to a station to contest her signature and receive a refund.

The caller also claimed that a gag order barred Fudge from telling anyone. “I’m a rule-follower,” Fudge said. “I couldn’t go to jail for 30 days.”

Fudge, 38, is a manager in the finance department of a government contractor. She and her husband, Jonathan, have a 7-year-old daughter. While sitting in her small SUV, she read legal documents aloud at the caller’s direction and was told to pay $15,000 in bail.

Fudge said she could access only $4,000. The caller directed her to a convenience store with abandoned gas pumps and a cryptocurrency machine. When she questioned the location, the caller warned that he was tracking her and that deputies were two blocks away.

Fudge scanned a QR code and deposited $4,000 in cash. At least five scammers took part in the operation, using different voices and Florida accents. After she expressed doubts, another caller reassured her that she would get the money back. She said the call included what sounded like police radio traffic.

The callers later said a judge had reviewed Fudge’s finances and would not approve the lower bail. By 2 p.m., Fudge had made three deposits totaling $17,000, including $2,000 more than she intended to pay. The scammers then told her the money had to be deposited all at once and demanded another $15,000.

Fudge used a credit-card cash advance to obtain $5,000. She then texted Jonathan: “I need you to not ask any questions, but can you transfer me $5,000 on Paypal?” Jonathan, a balloon artist who runs an event business, sent the money while attending a matinee of “The Odyssey.” Fudge forwarded $3,000 before PayPal’s fraud protections stopped the transaction.

Jonathan became concerned and asked ChatGPT why his wife might need money. The chatbot flagged the request as a possible scam. When Fudge asked for another $2,500, Jonathan refused to send it until he knew she was safe and called 911.

By 6:30 p.m., Fudge had been driving alone and speaking with the scammers for nearly eight hours without eating. The callers warned her not to speak unless directed to and said they would “retrieve” her from her location. Fudge returned home at 8:28 p.m., nearly 10 hours after the first call. A real deputy soon arrived to take her report.

The callers also told Fudge they could see her location, texts and internet searches. She said they knew her Social Security number and the amount in her bank account. Cybersecurity experts said the refurbished Samsung phone she had been setting up when the call began was likely loaded with spyware. Restoring a phone to factory settings before setting it up could have helped. Authorities later picked up the phone.

Fudge said the scammers’ pressure continued after she recognized the possibility that she was being deceived. “They had me scared,” she said. She later recalled telling one caller, “I feel like this is a scam.”

Miller, who heads the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office economic-crimes unit, said the office had received 44 reports of the jury-duty scam so far this year, compared with 25 for all of last year. Authorities warn that they will not call to threaten arrest or demand money over missed jury duty.

Miller advised people who are unsure about a caller to hang up and contact someone they trust. “The second that they get off the phone is the second they start thinking on their own,” he said.

Rebecca Oakley, a 60-year-old title agent in nearby Clearwater, also received a jury-duty scam call about six weeks ago. She wrote a note asking her husband to call her boss and follow her truck. Her boss recognized the scam, and her husband stopped her vehicle before she left. Oakley said the call lasted about 30 minutes and involved one caller. “I was panicked and I wasn’t thinking straight,” she said.

Cybersecurity experts describe these operations as “panic scams” because the callers claim authority and apply pressure that can impair rational thought. Ben Bernstein, a cybersecurity expert at Huntress, said some operations have “HR departments and performance reviews.”

The Justice Department announced in January the conviction of two Georgia inmates who ran scams from behind bars using stolen cellphones. Authorities also say accents used by callers can be produced with artificial intelligence or can be the real voices of prisoners.

The Federal Trade Commission said Americans reported losing $3.5 billion to impostor scams in 2025, nearly triple the amount reported in 2020. The broader category includes fake UPS messages, AI-generated voices of relatives in trouble and spoofed emails aimed at city governments.