DETROIT (WXYZ) — "If law enforcement needs to get in touch with you, we will knock on the door and we have our ID there to be able to legitimize who we are," said Wayne County Sheriff Raphael Washington who is alerting citizens to a scam that almost cost a woman $14,000, money she needed for a down payment on a house.
The elaborate scheme to defraud Mandana Lezgi began when she recently received a bogus email from the Drug Enforcement Agency, falsely claiming that she was being charged with federal crimes including drug trafficking.
"The email included a case number, my full name, and the phone number to call if I have any questions, I can call the DEA in Texas," Lezgi told 7 Action News.
When Lezgi called the phone number, she spoke to someone claiming to be "Special Agent in Charge Karen Tandy" of the "El Paso Unit."
The real Karen Tandy retired as Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration in 2007.
"They are very good actors. They made me believe them," said Lezgi.
The woman convinced Lezgi to act quickly if she wanted to clear her name but that she would need to give them any money she had in her bank account, claiming the fund would be returned three days later.
The stranger also stayed on the phone with Lezgi, directing her every move as she went to the bank to withdraw the money.
But instead of taking the money to the sheriff's office, the scammer changed it up and told Lezgi to deposit the money into a Bitcoin machine that was located inside an area hookah shop.
"Their story didn't match exactly but I was terrified," said Lezgi.
Feeling the pressure, Lezgi began to speed as she drove, prompting a Wayne County Sheriff's deputy on patrol to pull her over for speeding.
Lezgi explained to the deputy that she was speeding because she was trying to deliver money to their office to help clear her name.
The deputy listened and quickly realized that Lezgi was in the midst of being scammed out of her money.
The plot failed in Lezgi's case but Sheriff Washington is warning people to be aware that there are con artists out there who will pretend to be from his office or other law enforcement agencies in an attempt to put pressure on people to fork over money.
The sheriff now has a sign over the Bitcoin machine to warn people about the scam.
Washington said, "It's absolutely safe to say for all law enforcement agencies, we will never call someone on the phone to say that you owe us money.. or you need to go deliver your money somewhere and this will go away. We will never ever do that."
