In the family arrest scam, the scammer either pretends to be your family member who just got arrested for one reason or another and either can’t get ahold of their other relatives or wants to keep it a secret from their relatives. The scammer may also pretend to be an authority figure, such as a cop or lawyer who is just trying to help.
Scammers use information about your family gathered from social media and public records to make their story sound legitimate. Scammers may even use AI (artificial intelligence) to clone your loved one’s voice. With a short audio clip — maybe from content posted online — and a voice-cloning program, a scammer could call you and sound just like your family member.
You will then be asked to send money via wire, gift card, crypto, or some other method for bail money for your family member or to hire them an attorney to get out of the trouble that he or she is in. It needs to be sent quickly so you don’t have time to verify the story.
Before sending any money in this situation, you should verify that this is truly your family member by asking questions to which only your actual family member will know the answer or by calling your family member and/or their closest relatives/friends via known phone numbers. Avoid sending money via wire, gift cards, or cryptocurrency because you are unlikely to get this money back if it ends up being a scam.
Be sure to check out our Blog or our page on Facebook for fraud tips every Friday. We’ll cover different types of fraud as well as red flags to help you identify when it might be a scam.
Remember, if you have questions about a possible fraud situation or just an uneasy feeling about a phone call, text, email, or transaction, feel free to contact the Fraud Department at (605) 934-2500.