Benton County Court/Sheriff / imposter Reports & Reviews (1)
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SCAMPULSE
Scammer's address Kennewick, WA 99336, USA
Country United States
Victim Location WA 99337, USA
Type of a scam Government Agency Imposter
15:02 On the afternoon of April 23, 2025, I received a telephone call from a “PRIVATE NUMBER”. The person on the other end identified himself as Dylan Morris with the Benton County Court. He told me that I had missed a jury summons for March 17, 2025, and was now in legal trouble for Failure to Appear (FTA) and Contempt of Court (CoC). He told me that someone had signed my name to the certified letter and asked me several times how the mail service was here. I reported that we had many problems with mail delivery here. He told me I would need to report to the Benton County Sheriff's Office (BCSO) today to sign an affidavit attesting that I did not receive the jury notice and I would then be put into a Did Not Receive (DNR) status.
The ostensible Dylan Morris passed me off to another caller who identified himself as Marcus Brown of the BCSO, later to clarify that he was Captain Brown. He informed me that because I was a DNR I was eligible for the Pretrial Detention Initiative Program. He reiterated that I needed to go to the BCSO to sign an affidavit and to initiate a signature verification process. He told me not to hang up the phone and if I were to be stopped by law enforcement on the way just to hand the phone over to the officer who would then let me proceed.
As I was talking to Mr. Morris, I changed my clothes and started driving to BCSO, keeping him on the line continuously through the hands-free feature of my Jeep. He asked me what number showed up on my phone and when I said, “PRIVATE NUMBER”, he called in on another line at 15:29 that displayed “BENTON COUNTY” with phone number 509-735-6555. He encouraged me to perform a Google search for that number to “verify his identity”. I refused as I was driving at the time and don’t as a personal practice use my phone for Google searches. I was supposed to meet Sgt. Jackson at the front desk at BCSO to turn myself in, sign my affidavit, and initiate a signature verification process. I needed two forms of identification and a piece of mail to verify my address.
A few minutes into my trip to BCSO, the issue of bail/bond arose in the conversation. He informed me that the fine I should expect to receive would be up to $1,000 and that the court/sheriff would not accept credit or debit cards. I contemplated returning home for my checkbook but on reconsideration, explained to Mr. Morris that I wanted to go to the Sheriff’s office to start the paperwork process as soon as possible and would call my wife to bring $10,000 for bail. He didn’t like that idea but I was too busy driving to catch his explanation. He offered me the opportunity to go to my bank to withdraw cash to cover bail so I detoured to US Bank where I have a joint account with my wife. The caller told me he could not be party to a telephone conversation in the bank and to put my phone in my back pocket. To prevent him from hearing any conversations in the bank, I muted my phone and put it in my back pocket as requested. About that same time they sent me a picture of a realistic looking arrest warrant by text message from 307-622-4963.
When I explained to the bank cashier that I needed $10 K and why, she became suspicious. She checked with her supervisor to see if they even had that much cash on hand. The Supervisor even more suspicious so I asked if one of them would call the number that came up on my caller ID, 509-735-6555. The cashier called that number which reached a dispatcher of some sort who took my name, address, and phone number to have an officer call me back. He confirmed that the call was a scam and that I should hang up, which I then did.
16:15 Soon after I arrived back home, Officer Voland of Kennewick Police called me and confirmed the scam. He reported that they deal with about one of these a month, up to several a week. KPD has publicized this scam on their Facebook page and it is quite common. The scammers usually request money be sent to them by bit coin or as gift cards. Fortunately, this session did not reach the point where they asked me to send them money, probably because I was so eager to go to BCSO. Both callers were obviously in a call center with very loud background noise. It was so bad I asked both of them if they could find somewhere quieter so I could understand them easier.
I am sharing this experience because I had never heard of this specific scenario used and hope by publicizing my foolishness others will be spared the agony of losing significant funds to scammers.