SCAM ALERT: Sheriff Wayne Ivey Warns Residents of Fake Arrest Warrant Bitcoin Scheme Costing Brevard Victims Over $100K

Message from Sheriff Wayne Ivey

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – Recently, we have been seeing an increase in the number of frauds involving perpetrators who tell the intended victims that they have warrants for their arrest.

Of course, according to the perpetrator the arrest warrant can be resolved by making payments through Bitcoin, which as you might imagine is not how arrest warrants actually work.

Folks, these scammers are spoofing law enforcements phone numbers and even using names of people who work for our agency when they call or text the intended victims.

Recently citizens have been receiving messages similar to the ones you see pictured, that appear to be a real document from a law enforcement agency, stating they missed a court date or have an unpaid ticket, and need to pay them immediately.

As your Sheriff I promise you that we will NEVER, and I do mean NEVER, call you, text you, ask you to meet at a precinct, or anything else of that nature, to collect a payment for a missed court date, traffic ticket, or anything else related to our agency.

I can also guarantee you that you can’t “bitcoin” or “cryptocurrency” your way out of an arrest warrant, as once there’s a warrant for your arrest you are taking the ride to Ivey’s Iron Bar Lodge.

Please share this important information with your friends, family, neighbors, and especially those in our senior communities, as they may not use social media or other outlets to follow the latest scams.

We are blessed to have an amazing Economic Crimes Unit who can at times recover funds sent to these scammers, but unfortunately it does not always happen and just in the past few days a handful of our citizens have collectively lost over $100,000 of their had earned money.

So please always remember, we will never call you on the phone for payments of any kind, and if you are unsure, hang up and call our non-emergency number at (321) 264-5100, to check if the information is real!!

– Sheriff Wayne Ivey

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