New Lenox resident loses $3,900 to arrest warrant phone scam

A New Lenox resident lost $3,900 after a scammer posing as a police officer called and claimed they had an arrest warrant.

The incident was reported at 3:15 p.m. Wednesday to an officer with the New Lenox Police Department.

A resident reported receiving a call from someone “impersonating a police officer,” New Lenox police officials said.

The self-proclaimed police officer told the resident that “they had a warrant and needed to send payment to vacate the warrant,” police said.

The resident withdrew $3,900 and sent it to the caller using a Green Dot money transfer at Walmart, police said.

It was only when the caller asked for more money that the resident “became suspicious they were scammed,” police said.

The case is under review by the New Lenox Police Department.

Last year, a scammer persuaded a New Lenox man to deposit $15,140 into a bitcoin machine by claiming that he had been issued a warrant for missing jury duty.

For several years, authorities in Will County have been warning residents of scammers posing as police officers and stealing money with fraudulent arrest warrant claims.

Officers will “never ask for your bank information or for you to purchase cards or conduct wire transfers,” according to a statement in 2021 from the Will County Sheriff’s Office.

A scammer may tell the victims to buy Green Dot MoneyPak cards at retail stores for up to $400 per card and then provide the numbers on the back of the card, according to the sheriff’s office.

Residents can verify if they have warrants by visiting willcountywarrants.com.