Shocking scam alert out of Michigan: A Dundee woman lost a jaw-dropping $9,500 to a smooth-talking fraudster who didn’t just pretend to be a cop—he convinced her there was a warrant for her arrest.
The unsuspecting victim, living about 50 miles from Detroit, got a terrifying phone call from someone claiming to be a Monroe County sheriff’s deputy. The caller spun a gripping tale: miss jury duty, get slapped with a federal warrant. To up the ante, the trickster even texted her a convincing—yet totally fake—warrant document, Dundee Police confirmed.
Under extreme pressure and scared of being thrown in jail if she failed to obey or called for help, the woman was instructed to withdraw $9,500 in cash. But it gets even wilder: she was told to feed the money into a bitcoin machine stationed in Carleton, Michigan. After she completed the bizarre transaction, the scammer cut all contact.
Only then did she reach out to relatives and the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, where the real deputies dropped a bombshell—it was all a sham.
Turns out, this wasn’t a one-off—in recent days, multiple Monroe County locals have reported being targeted by crooks masquerading as officers, authorities say. Now, police are stepping in, trying to trace the vanished funds and stop the con artists before more residents fall prey.
And there’s a stern warning: The Dundee Police want everyone to know—cops will NEVER demand bail, cryptocurrency, or gift cards over the phone. Meanwhile, the number used in the scam was ‘spoofed’—meaning it appeared legit but was really a clever fake, making the culprit hard to track down. The FCC cautions the public: block unknown callers, refuse to give out sensitive information, and always double-check by calling agencies directly using official numbers—not ones provided by mystery callers.
Online tricks like this are becoming epidemic: The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center clocked a record-smashing $16.6 billion in losses for 2024 alone. Pew Research Center found that nearly three-quarters of Americans are targeted by scam calls, texts, or emails every single week in 2025. Bottom line: Stay alert, stay skeptical, and don’t let scammers catch you off guard.
