Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar is putting San Antonio on alert after a sharp rise in “jury duty” phone scams that stripped two local women of nearly $47,500 combined. The con artists leaned on spoofed sheriff’s office numbers, fake but convincing court paperwork and a maze of Bitcoin teller machines to squeeze money out of rattled victims.
On Jan. 28, a 64-year-old woman was kept on the phone for hours and directed from one Bitcoin teller machine to another before losing $25,000, authorities say, as reported by San Antonio Express-News. The callers spoofed the BCSO non-emergency number, told her she had skipped jury duty, claimed she was under a gag order and sent what looked like official arrest warrants to pressure her into paying up…