Sheriff issues warning after Bourne resident loses $68K in scam

A Massachusetts sheriff is urging the public to be on the lookout for phone scams involving callers posing as law enforcement after a Bourne resident lost more than $68,000 to fraudsters.

The Bourne man contacted the Norfolk County Sheriff’s office on Friday to report the incident, the department said in a statement.

The man said he received numerous calls starting on April 28 from two men claiming they worked for the sheriff’s office. They allegedly told the man he was facing a “contempt of court order” and a “failure to appear” for jury duty and would be arrested if he didn’t pay the sum they demanded. 

The man, who has filed a report with Bourne police, told authorities he lost $68,700 in the scam. 

“He said they were very intimidating,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement. 

The man told authorities he transferred the funds at a local convenience store, and he has since shared documents sent to him by the imposters. 

The sheriff’s office said those documents included fake “mobile escort orders” that asked for a “verbal sobriety statement” from “US District Court, Inc.” along with an address for a residential neighborhood in Washington, D.C., not a federal office. 

One document claimed court and processing fees would be waived if the man paid a bail amount of $30,000, while another document referenced a former United States treasurer but with the word “treasurer” misspelled, officials said. 

Sheriff Patrick McDermott urged anyone who gets a call from people making similar claims to contact local police or his office. 

“Please, just hang up on people who make these claims,” he said. “No one from our office, or any other law enforcement agency, makes these calls. This is a scam.”