Allegheny County Sheriff Kevin Kraus is warning the public about a new approach to money scamming that was reported this week.
A woman alerted the sheriff’s office that she had been scammed out of $2,000 by using an ATM at the county courthouse in Downtown Pittsburgh.
The woman was contacted by someone claiming to be a county sheriff’s deputy, informing her that she’d signed paperwork in May confirming an appearance for jury duty. She was then told that she’d missed her jury-duty date this past Monday, and had been charged with a misdemeanor.
The woman was told the only way to clear the charges was to pay the sheriff’s office $2,000, and was instructed to go to the Allegheny County Courthouse, to the PNC Bank ATM in the county treasurer’s office. While on the phone with the scammers, the woman was given an 8-digit code that would provide cardless access to the ATM.
PNC customers can generate a one-time code through the PNC Mobile app to gain that access.
The woman was then given a 4-digit code that the scammers falsely said was the number identifying their criminal case. After the codes were entered, the woman inserted $2,000 into the ATM and selected, “Deposit.”
Krause reminded the public that his office does not contact residents by phone to discuss missing a jury-duty date, will never request any type of payment over the phone, will never request the use of an ATM or cryptocurrency kiosk to pay a fine or clear a warrant, and will never request payment using gift cards or a payment app like Venmo, Zelle or Cashapp to pay a fine or clear a warrant.
The incident remains under investigation.