Elderly Brownwood Woman Scammed Out of $1,500

A 71-year-old woman from Brownwood was scammed out of $1,500 by a man who claimed to be a Brown County Sheriff's office employee, according to a local news source. During a very convincing phone call, the man told the woman she would be arrested on warrants if she did not pay up. However, according to Assistant Police Chief James Fuller, there were no warrants for the woman's arrest.

The police report revealed that the woman received a phone call from the supposed sheriff's office employee at 12:16 p.m., Tuesday. The caller, a male, told the woman "she was in trouble with the law for failing to report for jury duty."

The caller then proceeded to tell the woman there were active warrants for her arrest; however, he told her she could take care of the warrants by going to a local store and buying two "recharge cards" of $750 each.

Fearing she would be arrested, the woman did as instructed and bought the cards. She provided the 16-digit card number and security code for each card to the man who told her the payments were complete. He told the woman she needed to take the receipts for the cards to the courthouse so the payment could be processed.

After talking with courthouse employees, the woman realized she had been scammed out of the $1,500.

"The only time you have to give your financial information over the phone is when you have initiated the phone call," Fuller stated. "We get these scams every year. We get all sorts of different things. If any agency calls you about a bill or warrant, don't do any financial transactions over the phone; call the agency yourself to find out if you owe any money or are being scammed."