Is There a Warrant for Your Arrest? It’s More Likely You’re a Target of This Scam

If, like most people, you’re a law-abiding citizen, getting a call from law enforcement saying you’re in trouble is probably one of your worst nightmares. It’s even worse when they tell you there’s a warrant for your arrest because you didn’t do something you don’t recall being told to do. For some people, this worst nightmare comes true. But it’s very rarely because they’re actually in trouble. More often, it’s because they’ve been targeted by an arrest warrant scam.

How Arrest Warrant Scams Work

Arrest warrant scams are fairly simple in premise. The scammer contacts you in some way. With this scam, it’s most often a phone call. They may spoof caller ID to look like a number local to your area or even your local sheriff’s office or police department. However, arrest warrant scams have also happened through email, text message, and even physical mail.

When they reach you, they tell you there’s a warrant out for your arrest. If the scam starts with an email or physical letter, they may even attach a copy of a realistic-looking arrest warrant. The reason for the warrant varies. A common story is that you failed to show up for jury duty. But they may tell you that you didn’t pay at a toll road, didn’t deal with a traffic ticket, or any other story that they can think of. Whatever the story, the result is the same. There’s now a warrant out for your arrest.

They know you’re a law-abiding citizen who doesn’t want trouble, though, and they can help. All you have to do is pay a fee or bond, and that will clear the warrant. TAnd they’re happy to walk you through the payment process. Sometimes they will take your credit card information over the phone. But more often, they will need you to pay another way. They may ask you to wire money, use a payment kiosk like Coinstar, or buy gift cards and read them the code. Once you send the money, you won’t have to worry about a warrant – because there wasn’t one in the first place. And the scammer will disappear with your money.

Why Arrest Warrant Scams Work

Every scammer’s number one trick is to get you as emotional as possible, as fast as possible. Any emotion will work for their purposes. It’s a brilliant psychological trick. When you’re experiencing strong emotions, your rational brain gets overwhelmed and doesn’t work as well. Your ability to think logically and see through the scammer’s lies is less than it would be normally. If they can get you emotional before they make you suspicious, they’re much more likely to talk you into going along with their scheme.

This is also why anyone, even experts, can get scammed. You may know everything there is to know about scams, but if the scammer successfully gets you emotional, it’s much, much harder to remember any of it.

Arrest warrant scams in particular are trying to inspire fear and anxiety. They count on the fact that you’re an honest citizen and want to keep your nose and your record clean. Legal trouble is already scary because it’s complex and can have huge consequences. Getting arrested is a terrifying prospect for most people. Scammers know that getting an unexpected notice that there’s a warrant for your arrest, especially when the reason seems plausible, is going to make most people anxious and afraid. They count on this sudden news frightening you so much that it overrides your rational brain.

How to Spot a Warrant Scam

There’s one easy way to spot an arrest warrant scam: The only legally valid way to serve a warrant is to deliver it to you in person. If there’s a warrant for your arrest, someone from your local law enforcement will show up to your house or workplace. They will not call you, email you, text you, or send you a letter. If anyone tells you that they have a warrant for your arrest and they are not a uniformed law enforcement officer standing in front of you, it’s a scam.

If the notice comes through email, text message, or letter in the mail, you can also verify it. Before you follow any instructions, call your local sheriff or police department’s non-emergency line. They can check if there are any arrest warrants for you. If there aren’t, you can safely ignore the message.

Phone calls are harder to recognize in the moment. Watch for common signs of a scam, like threats, pressure, urgency, and suspicious payment methods. (No legitimate court wants gift cards, Zelle, or gold!) Also beware if they reduce the fee. Real legal fees don’t change based on how much you can pay – at least not without a lot of paperwork. And if they want to stay on the phone with you while you drive to your bank or a store to get the payment, that’s a scam. Real law enforcement has better things to do.

Our biggest tip for spotting scams is always about emotions. If you find yourself feeling any kind of strong emotion, it’s time to stop and think. Nothing legitimate can’t wait ten minutes for you to think about it or verify the story. If they pressure you to act now, before you have a chance to think, it’s a scam.

Knowing Your Information Doesn’t Make Them Legitimate

One thing scammers often do to make their arrest warrant scams look more legitimate is tell you your own information. They may tell you your current address and ask if that’s accurate. They may also have your address history – sometimes decades worth of addresses – any previous court records you may have, the names of your relatives, or even more personal details like your social security number. Many people assume that only a someone from law enforcement would have access to all that information, so the caller must be legitimate.

But, unfortunately, that isn’t the only way someone could get your information. Things like court records are public records, so anyone can look them up. Data breaches can expose your information and put it on the dark web for criminals to harvest. And people search websites and data brokers, which make money collecting and selling your personal information, can fill in the gaps. There are a lot of reasons that someone may have your personal information that don’t mean they’re an actual law enforcement officer or that their story is true.

The good news, though, is if you’ve been targeted by an arrest warrant scam and the scammer had your personal information, that doesn’t mean they compromised any of your information. Chances are good that they got whatever they had from what was already out there, not because they specifically attacked you another way. Definitely take steps to protect your identity. But don’t worry too much about that aspect of it.

How to Avoid Arrest Warrant Scams

Since arrest warrant scams rely on the scammers contacting you, there’s no real way to avoid being a target. Scammers do everything from buying contact information from data brokers or scraping it from data breaches to just generating random phone numbers to call. But while you can’t avoid being a target, you can avoid being a victim.

The best way to protect yourself is to learn how to spot these scams when you are a target. There are two steps to this: Know that they’re out there and always verify the story. Now that you know arrest warrant scams are out there, you’ll be better able to be cautious.

And before you do anything, call your local sheriff’s office or police department and ask them to verify the story. They will be able to tell you if it’s a scam or if there’s a real problem. This can be hard if you’re on the phone with someone. But you can say something like, “I want to be cooperative and resolve this issue, but to verify this for my own peace of mind, I want to hang up and call your agency directly. Do you have an extension number I can use to reach you, or should I just ask for your name?”

A real law enforcement officer will understand that you want to be safe and tell you how to reach them when you call. If they threaten you with immediate arrest or other horrible things if you hang up, they’re a scammer. Hang up anyway, and then call whatever office they claimed to be from. Make sure you call from a known trusted number or the number on the agency’s website, not any number they gave you. Or to be completely sure, you can go to the local office in person to ask.

What to Do if You Got Caught

If you were caught in an arrest warrant scam, take action as soon as you realize. Though it’s often challenging or impossible to get your money back, you should at least try. Contact whatever institution you sent the money through. Explain the situation and ask if they can stop the transaction. They may not be able to. You can also ask if they have other options available, but at the very least, report it as fraud.

Next, take steps to protect yourself. We recommend going through the steps in this comprehensive article on what to do if you fell for a scam so you can be sure you’re as protected as possible.

Third, report it! You can file a report with your local police and report it to the FBI, the FTC, and your state Attorney General. Save any evidence you have, such as screenshots of text messages or emails, any phone numbers or email addresses they used, any names they told you, and any other details you recall, even if they seem trivial. Keep this evidence in a safe place in case law enforcement needs it in the future.

Finally, be alert but not ashamed. Scammers often target past victims with new scams. If you got caught in a scam, be alert for more scams in the coming months or years. But also remember that no matter how people react, there’s no shame in being caught in a scam. Scammers are experts in manipulating our psychology so we literally can’t think logically. You may feel like you were stupid to fall for it, but even scam experts can fall for scams. The best thing you can do is share what happened to you – both to reduce the stigma and warn your loved ones that this scam is out there!