A Palmer mom lost $3K to scammers. She wants to help you avoid falling for the scheme.

Samantha Norman, a unfortunate of a Jury Duty scam, stands extracurricular her location successful Palmer connected Tuesday, June 25, 2024. (Anisa Vietze/Alaska Public Media)

Samantha Norman, a caregiver and mom successful Palmer, ne'er thought she would autumn for a telephone scam. 

She regularly told her aged mom to get disconnected nan telephone pinch scammers and hung up erstwhile she spotted them herself. 

But past she sewage a telephone connected her compartment telephone connected a sunny day connected June 6. The caller ID said Palmer Police Department.

“It was really intelligibly laid retired to maine arsenic soon arsenic I answered nan phone,” she said. “He said his serviceman name, his badge number, that nan Palmer Police Department had been trying to get a clasp of me.”

She stayed connected nan telephone for hours, confused and trying to cooperate. What she didn’t cognize astatine nan time: The man calling her was not an officer, and she was being targeted by a “Jury Duty Scam.” It’s a nationwide strategy that rule enforcement says has been astir for astir a decade but is becoming progressively sophisticated. And, successful Alaska, nan scammers are swindling residents retired of thousands of dollars each year.

Norman is 1 of them.

She said nan June 6 caller — who said he was Officer Ray — told her  she had signed for a portion of certified message successful March, and by signing for it she had agreed to beryllium a portion of a assemblage for a execution trial. She didn’t retrieve this, but arsenic a engaged mom moving aggregate jobs, she didn’t want to disregard it entirely.

“I do person to motion certified message for nan businesses that I tally sometimes,” Norman said. “So I conscionable said, ‘It’s wholly imaginable that I signed for thing and ne'er opened it.’”

Because Norman had missed assemblage duty, nan caller said, she had 2 charges against her and a warrant. If she hung up nan phone, officers would beryllium dispatched to her location to apprehension her. She was scared. 

“I did not want my daughter, who was present connected her playdate, to person a bunch of constabulary show up astatine my house,” she said. 

Samantha Norman’s location is adorned pinch her seven-year-old daughter’s art. When a scammer threatened to nonstop constabulary to her house, she wanted to protect her daughter. (Anisa Vietze/Alaska Public Media)

The caller was sympathetic, she said. He told her he had 2 kids himself, truthful he understood and would thief her grip it. 

“He’s like, ‘I tin show you’re a really bully mom,’” she recalled. “‘I’m going to beryllium astatine nan constabulary position arsenic soon arsenic you get here. I’m going to beryllium nan personification that does your fingerprints and your photographs, we’ll get you successful and retired of present successful little than an hour.’”

He told Norman that she conscionable needed to salary a bail enslaved of $3,000 truthful that she didn’t person to walk nan nighttime successful jail. The bail enslaved had to beryllium paid, not successful personification astatine nan constabulary station, but astatine a Coinstar instrumentality astatine nan market store. The caller told her this was because of lingering COVID protocols. He said it was conscionable different 1 of those pandemic adjustments that, for bureaucratic reasons, hadn’t been reversed yet.

“It was each very confusing and overwhelming, but astatine nan aforesaid time, successful immoderate ways, made sense.” Norman said.

She said $3,000 felt for illustration a batch of money, but nan caller told her she would get it backmost wrong a fewer days.

“Once I deposited nan money, we sewage disconnected,” she said.

She called nan Palmer Police Department back.

“The woman connected dispatch was like, ‘Are you kidding me? You’re nan 3rd personification coming that this has happened to.’ And I was like, ‘What?’ And she’s like, ‘It’s a scam,’” Norman said.

The full telephone was made up – location was nary portion of certified mail, warrant for her apprehension aliases bully constabulary serviceman pinch a confederate accent. 

“And past I sewage hysterical,” Norman said, tearing up arsenic she recounted nan conversation. “I was like, ‘Ma’am, that’s my mortgage. Like, what do I do? I’m a azygous mom. Nobody other is gonna salary these bills. I’m surviving paycheck to paycheck. I don’t person savings. Like, what americium I expected to do?’”

Norman is not nan only 1 who’s been scammed. There person been reports of virtually identical scams crossed nan country, and crossed Alaska. Earlier this year, constabulary successful Anchorage and connected nan Kenai Peninsula some warned residents of scammers impersonating officers.

There is not overmuch much section constabulary tin do, said Palmer Police Detective Sgt. Luke Szipszky. He said that’s because nan scammers are apt calling from different states aliases overseas. 

“That’s why we want to get retired arsenic overmuch acquisition arsenic imaginable to forestall them because there’s not a full batch we tin do connected nan backmost end,” Szipszky said.

Szipszky said this scam has been going connected successful Palmer for astir a decade, but it’s gotten much elaborate complete time. Norman’s scammer gave her lawsuit numbers, transferred her to personification he said was a judge, had constabulary power chatter successful nan inheritance and kept her connected nan telephone for 3 hours. Scammers besides now usage caller ID spoofing to make it look for illustration a telephone is coming from nan constabulary department’s existent telephone number, and erstwhile you effort to telephone nan scammer backmost it really goes to nan department. 

Szipszky said Alaskans must retrieve that a existent constabulary section would ne'er telephone and request money for immoderate reason. 

“Nowhere successful nan authorities of Alaska will we telephone up and request money successful speech for taking attraction of a warrant,” Szipszky said. “That’s not us.”

In a business wherever thing seems off, Szipszky urged residents to bent up nan telephone and  call nan constabulary section straight to confirm. 

“We will listen, we don’t mind, it’s not a bother,” he said.

He said nan section has tried to amended group connected nan scams, posting astir them connected their Facebook page and moving pinch section banks to put signs up informing group astir communal schemes. 

Norman wishes location was much nan constabulary could do.

“I’m not connected Facebook, and I surely don’t travel nan Palmer Police Department,” she said. “I conscionable consciousness for illustration we could do amended successful educating group connected what to perceive for.”

She tried to get her money back. She submitted a constabulary study and started a fraud lawsuit pinch her bank. But her slope told her they could not return nan money. She besides filled retired a study pinch nan FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center.

Samantha Norman holds a stack of papers related to nan scam. She has receipts from nan Coinstar transaction, her FBI Internet Crime Complaint Victim Information, and notes that she took while connected nan telephone pinch nan scammer, including clone lawsuit numbers and charges. (Anisa Vietze/Alaska Public Media)

Eventually, Norman did extremity up getting her money back, but not from nan scammer. Nearly 2 twelve group donated to an online fundraiser, and she was capable to salary her owe connected time. She said she was shocked.

“I americium truthful grateful for nan support of immoderate group that I don’t moreover know, and many, galore friends, adjacent and far, that donated money to thief maine salary my bills,” Norman said.

Norman said she felt for illustration nan organization really showed up for her successful a clip of need. It made her want to stock her communicative of being scammed – moreover if it is simply a small embarrassing to admit – truthful that others successful her organization won’t person to spell done nan aforesaid thing.