Fort Bend Woman Loses $50,000 in Jury Duty Cryptocurrency Scam

A Fort Bend County woman lost $50,000 after falling victim to a jury duty scam that used fear and urgency to extract cryptocurrency from her. The scammer, posing as an FBCSO captain, claimed she had missed federal jury duty and faced arrest unless she followed his instructions.

The woman received a call on August 28th that appeared to come from the Sheriff's Office. The caller instructed her to remain on the phone while withdrawing $50,000 in cash from her bank account and depositing it into a Bitcoin ATM through multiple cryptocurrency transactions.

She eventually became suspicious and stopped following the caller's instructions, going directly to the Sheriff's Office to report the scam.

The Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office warns residents that they will never demand money to resolve a warrant or avoid arrest. They also remind people that federal courts do not demand payments by phone, text message, or email and do not instruct people to use cryptocurrency to avoid arrest.