{"id":143863,"date":"2026-02-04T21:03:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T21:03:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/143863\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T21:03:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T21:03:07","slug":"martin-county-residents-lose-up-to-40000-in-a-week-as-scammers-target-the-elderly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/143863\/","title":{"rendered":"Martin County residents lose up to $40,000 in a week as scammers target the elderly"},"content":{"rendered":"

MARTIN COUNTY, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 In just a matter of days, scammers in Martin County <\/a>have stolen between $30,000 and $40,000, prompting an urgent warning from the Martin County Sheriff\u2019s Office<\/a> as deputies report a surge in schemes aimed primarily at elderly residents<\/a>.<\/p>\n

One of the fastest-growing scams <\/a>involves callers pretending to be from a victim\u2019s bank, claiming the person\u2019s account has been compromised. The scammers instruct the victim to withdraw cash and hand it to a \u201ccourier\u201d who arrives at their home under the guise of protecting the funds. Officials say banks never send couriers to pick up cash, and any request for such a handoff is fraudulent.<\/p>\n

Deputies are also seeing an increase in fake bond payment calls<\/a>. In these cases, scammers track recent arrests, locate family members online, and convince them that a loved one is in jail and needs immediate bond money. Law enforcement stressed that bond is never paid over the phone, making such demands a clear sign of a scam.<\/p>\n

See also: Ryan Routh sentenced to life after being convicted of trying to assassinate Pres. Trump<\/a><\/p>\n

The Sheriff\u2019s Office is urging residents to share these warnings widely\u2014especially with seniors who may be more vulnerable. Officials say awareness is the most effective way to stop scammers <\/a>before they can exploit another victim.<\/p>\n

Anyone who receives a call demanding money, scheduling a cash pickup, or requesting payment through gift cards or other unusual methods should hang up immediately and report the incident to local law enforcement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MARTIN COUNTY, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 In just a matter of days, scammers in Martin County have stolen between…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":143864,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[171,173,172],"class_list":["post-143863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","tag-port-st-lucie-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143863"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143863\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}