At first they were pretty convincing. But the longer they talked, the more convinced I was that it was a scam.

They told me I'd missed Jury Duty, and the judge was about to sign a bunch of arrest warrants for people like me who had missed. If I came in to the SLC Sheriff's office and paid the fine, they wouldn't issue the warrant. And - they wanted me to stay on the phone with them for "constant contact" to prove I wasn't just trying to get out of the fine.

They also told me that I would have to pay the fine, but if I signed an affidavit that I had never received a summons and was unaware of missing jury duty, they would pay back my fine via check the same day.

It was pretty elaborate - they had other sounds in the background and once in a while as we were talking he would act like he was holding the phone off to the side to answer a question about a certain case or file. Had me talk to the sergeant at one point. Told me the sheriff's office was currently under construction and which door to enter - which floor and office to go to, etc.

This is where I got curious - how does a scammer get money from me if they're telling me to come to the Sheriff's office to pay? So I decided to play along.

He told me I couldn't pay with cash - because of covid and not wanting to spread germs. Also - I couldn't pay with a check or credit card because it was possible I stole those and would be paying with someone else's card/check. So I'm assuming cashier's check or something - nope. He told me I needed to purchase a "money card" from Smiths or a c-store, and bring that to the sheriff's office - where there was a kiosk where I could pay with it, get a receipt, take the receipt to the court window, etc.

I'm still wondering how this works, so after waiting a few minutes I told him I had the money card and was ready to head to the sheriff's office. At that point, he told me to read him the numbers on the back of the card so that he could make sure I had gotten the right kind and in the correct amount.

So - that's how they get you.

I swear I talked to at least 3 different people, getting passed around. They all had a southern/Texan accent. At one point I asked one of them how many people at the Sheriff's office had moved their from Texas, and he laughed and told me they were all friends. And once one had moved, they'd talked the others into applying for a job at the same place.

About the time I made up a number to tell them, and then played around with him that he was entering it wrong for a bit, he started to get upset. So I called him a few names unapproved for CB and he hung up on me.