'Seemed pretty legit': Utah couple warns residents about being extorted through warrant scams

SANDY — Sarah Figorski thought her worst nightmare was coming true.

She got a call from a man identifying himself as a Salt Lake County sheriff's deputy — her caller ID even identified the number as coming from the sheriff's office — who told her there was a warrant out for her arrest. The man didn't just know Figorski's name but also her date of birth and previous employer.

"He had enough details surrounding my employment that it made me think it was legitimate. He had enough details about me, knowing that I was in patient care, that I was a nurse practitioner, what my line of work was. So it all seemed pretty legit," she said. "He was able to tell me the name of our billing department for my company and where our mailing address was. He was able to give me all that information.

"There were just enough details that I thought it was legitimate," she said.

Figorski, who was already having a stressful day, became "frazzled and scared to death" due to the phone call and the man's pressing mannerism that made everything seem so urgent.

"He was very intimidating. 'If you hang up with me, we're going to consider that (as being) noncompliant. You're not working with us.' And (he was) very, very threatening," she recalled.

The "deputy" then told her that she could take care of her warrant and avoid going to jail by paying a bond. And she could do it via Venmo.

She called her husband to tell him what was happening. Andy Figorski says he immediately recognized the call as a scam.

"Honey, law enforcement doesn't use Venmo," he told her. "She got this look on her face, like, 'Dammit. Now I see that.' They extorted you. This was digital extortion."

But it was too late. After a 45-minute call and the man repeatedly calling back, the Figorskis were out $1,900.

Brazen scammers

Scams involving callers claiming that they're either a police officer or attorney have become more frequent in recent years. The Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office says such calls are practically a daily occurrence. The Federal Trade Commission says Americans have lost more than $1.1 billion to impersonation scams.

A caller will sometimes claim to be a police officer and tell the potential victim an arrest warrant has been issued. Or they pose as an attorney and claim that one of the victim's loved ones has been arrested — sometimes for causing a fatal crash — and that the victim needs to pay money to either get that relative out of jail or to settle pending legal action. The scams seem legitimate because actual law enforcement phone numbers are spoofed, and the callers pretend to be current or former officers from that agency.

And while some may assume that the scammer is calling from another country and will never be traced or arrested, the Figorskis and their attorney, Thomas Hutchings, say through their own investigating, they made a very interesting discovery after just a few phone calls.

When Andy Figorski got home that night, he called the number that had contacted his wife. He started to leave a message to play along with the scheme, saying that he just wanted to make sure the payment went through and there would be no more trouble. At that point, the caller picked up, and Figorski laid into him.

"You like scamming women, do ya? You like committing fraud?" Figorski pressed him.

He says it was at that point, the man on the other end of the phone broke character.

"'Wire fraud? What you talkin' about wire fraud? Oh, you mean that donation? That donation that she gave me? I'm enjoying a nice steak dinner now,'" Figorski recalled the man saying. "They rubbed it right in my face."

But Figorski said he recognized the accent as someone from the deep South. He and Hutchings then looked more closely at the Venmo account the money was sent to — which used a Department of Treasury logo for the profile picture — and found there were three "friends" listed. Hutchings filed legal documents and sent out notices to obtain records about those friends and discovered that one person appeared to be an inmate in a Georgia prison.

As he continued to research the issue, Hutchings learned of many reported problems within the Georgia correctional system, including an inmate who pleaded guilty to impersonating a federal officer nearly a year ago and an operation in which drones were being used to smuggle guns, drugs, cellphones and other items to inmates over the prison walls. Approximately 150 people were arrested, including eight Georgia Department of Corrections employees.

In the federal case, "the conspirators targeted health care workers across the country," according to the U.S. attorney's office, and threatened them with arrest if they did not send money via PayPal.

Hutchings says he doesn't know yet how the perpetrators are getting such specific information about the people they are trying to scam. But he does not believe scammers are making phone calls at random to fish for potential victims.

"It's not random. It's not randomized," he said.

As Hutchings was working with the Figorskis, he learned of others who fell victim to the same scam. And based on the recording of a phone call made by Andy Figorski, he believes some Utahns fell victim to the same people.

In February, the Figorskis along with Hutchings filed a civil lawsuit against several people in connection with the scam, including two Georgia prison inmates. The lawsuit says they are seeking damages "as a matter of public awareness."

"Other victims in Utah have reported similar experiences noted through countless communities throughout the state; the Figorskis are just one of many Utahns as it pertains to victims impacted by this fraud operation in Georgia and surrounding areas," according to the lawsuit.

• A similar lawsuit was filed by Hutchings in July on behalf of a man in Utah County who received a call from someone purporting to be from the Utah County Sheriff's Office. That man was scammed out of $9,000 after being told there was a warrant out for his arrest.
• Hutchings also filed a lawsuit in June on behalf of a Washington County resident who received a similar call threatening arrest by the Washington County Sheriff's Office unless the victim paid more than $2,400 in two transactions. The caller knew the victim's Social Security number, date of birth and prior home address.
• A fourth lawsuit was filed in August on behalf of a Utah County couple scammed the same day as the other Utah County victim. The husband was told he would be held in contempt of court unless he sent more than $3,000 "through the use of Walmart-branded barcodes," the lawsuit states. He was then instructed to go to the Eagle Mountain Police Department and hand his receipts to an officer. But when the victim arrived at the police station, the caller broke character and "laughed out loud on speaker phone … in a manner to taunt and humiliate (the man) for falling prey to the impersonation scheme, stating, 'How dumb you is for falling for this,'" according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit contends that the caller who scammed this couple is the same man who scammed the Figorskis.

As of Wednesday, no criminal charges have been filed against anyone named in the lawsuits in connection with the phone scams.

Hang up the phone

Now, Hutchings and the Figorskis are trying to not only spread awareness about the scam but encourage others who have also lost money to not be embarrassed and to come forward.

"This is nothing to be ashamed of. Somebody pretended to be law enforcement and shook you down," Andy Figorski said.

Hutchings says it's imperative that victims contact the Federal Trade Commission or Utah Attorney General's Office so at least their incident is documented. He also encourages victims to contact his office at Thomas@Hutchings.Law or at 833-291-2905 if they'd like to pursue civil action. Because he has a recording of one scammer, he says other victims could listen and compare.

As for what residents can do to prevent being scammed in the first place, Hutchings says pausing before answering the caller's questions and not caving to the pressure the scammers place on potential victims will help. He says residents can also simply hang up and contact the law enforcement agency that caller purports to be from and ask if a warrant really has been issued.

Salt Lake County Sheriff Rosie Rivera, who has been trying to get the word out for over a year about these types of scams, agrees that hanging up the phone and calling police is the best option.

"If you have a warrant for your arrest, we don't call you. We're not going to tell you we're coming," the sheriff said. "People just have to understand, law enforcement won't call you if you have a warrant. And we won't charge you over the phone."

Whether it's wire transfers, gift cards, Venmo, or even cash, Rivera said law enforcers won't take any of it in lieu of serving a warrant.

"That is not how we do it," she said.

As for investigating cases in which people have lost money, she says detectives need information.

"Most victims don't have the information, they don't even know what the real phone number is (that called them). (The scammers) are just spoofing everything," the sheriff said. "It's very difficult to do unless the individual has more than just a spoofed phone number. It really depends on the evidence."

Hutchings and the Figorskis believe they have collected enough information to give police a good starting point for a criminal investigation.

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