NORTHAMPTON CO. (WOLF) \u2014 Pennsylvania State Police in Troop M, along with the Northampton County Sheriff\u2019s Office, are warning residents about a phone scam in which callers pose as law enforcement officers and demand payment in Bitcoin to clear fake arrest warrants.<\/p>\n
Authorities say several people in the Lehigh Valley have reported receiving calls from individuals claiming to be deputies with the Northampton County Sheriff\u2019s Office. The callers tell victims there is a warrant out for their arrest for failing to appear for jury duty and insist that immediate payment is required to avoid being taken into custody.<\/p>\n
Investigators say the callers direct victims to make payments using Bitcoin, a type of cryptocurrency that is difficult to trace and recover once sent.<\/p>\n
In one case, on December 20, 2025, a woman reported receiving a call from someone claiming she had two outstanding warrants for missing jury duty. Believing the threat was real, she completed three Bitcoin transactions totaling $10,000.<\/p>\n
On February 9, 2026, another woman was told she had an active warrant and needed to send money through Bitcoin. She transferred $4,000 before state troopers intervened during a traffic stop and informed her the call was fraudulent.<\/p>\n
Just two days later, on February 11, a third victim reported losing $16,500 in two separate Bitcoin transactions after receiving a similar call about alleged warrants.<\/p>\n
State police stress that legitimate law enforcement agencies do not request payments over the phone and do not accept cryptocurrency or other unconventional payment methods to resolve warrants or fines.<\/p>\n
Officials urge anyone who receives a call demanding payment to hang up immediately and avoid sharing personal or financial information. Residents who believe they have been targeted by a scam are encouraged to contact their local police department.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NORTHAMPTON CO. (WOLF) \u2014 Pennsylvania State Police in Troop M, along with the Northampton County Sheriff\u2019s Office, are…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":112115,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[119,121,120],"class_list":["post-112114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-allentown","tag-allentown","tag-allentown-headlines","tag-allentown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112114"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112114\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}