With 24 hours away from the kids, a gala to attend, and one-on-one time with her husband, this mom thought she was in for a treat—until one phone call ruined everything.
The call sent her into a panic and had her contacting multiple law enforcement agencies for help.
But it turned out to be the latest scam impacting everyday people. It uses some shockingly convincing tactics that might catch even the most vigilant amongst us.
Mom allegedly has a warrant out for her arrest
In a four-part series totaling more than 115,000 views, small business owner Jessica (@charlieloubaby), who owns the kids’ clothing retailer Charlie Lou, shares the harrowing experience she had with scammers.
While she got some important answers, she still has so many unanswered questions.
In the videos, Jessica explains that she got a call from an alleged U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agent who claimed a suspicious package came into the country from China under Jessica’s name.
Jessica’s clothing manufacturer is based in China, so that part seemed plausible enough to her.
Still suspicious of the person on the other end of the line, Jessica asked for his name and badge number. When she did a quick Google search, the guy did come up on LinkedIn with an affiliation to a government office, so she started to believe him a bit more.
He went on to say that the package was full of money and five different types of drugs, and said they recently raided a house in Texas that was somehow connected to Jessica’s situation.
That’s when things start to get funky. The man said someone might have stolen Jessica’s identity, but also stated that there’s a warrant out for her arrest.
“I was like flabbergasted, shocked, and confused,” Jessica recalls, unsure of whether she was being scammed or not since they hadn’t asked for money.
He then read her the details of the “warrant,” her case number, and told her she was facing up to 59 years in prison.
“I was absolutely losing it. It was so much information coming at me so fast,” Jessica says in the clip.
That’s when she got her husband involved, who was adamant that he only wanted to speak to her.
That call eventually ended, but it didn’t assuage Jessica’s fear.
Was the call real?
Trying to clear things up and take a more logical approach, Jessica called 911, and they gave her the national FBI number.
“The way they scam you and trick you is they give you an overload of information to make you think they are proving they’re legitimate,” the FBI agent Jessica spoke with told her.
If Jessica were actually suspected of being in such a large drug operation, the agent said, “No one would call you.”
“They would break your door down and arrest you. And no civilian will ever have their warrant ID number,” he added.
Questions remain
“The thing I still don’t understand is that they didn’t try to scam me. Like, they didn’t try to get money from me. And so my last thought was, ‘Were they trying to get my voice?’” Jessica says in here video.
“That’s so embarrassing that that happened to me. Like, I’m a millennial, we don’t get scammed,” she continues. “It’s like the 90-year-old grandmas that are getting scammed in these situations.”
Jessica says she put out the video despite her embarrassment because she suspects she was targeted for having a small business with manufacturing in China and wants to prevent others from having the same panicked experience.
Would the FBI call you about a warrant?
No. They would serve a federal warrant in person or by certified mail. Never on the phone or via text.
In the comments, viewers warned others that these agencies would never reach out on the phone.
“Give yourself some grace, this was a very scary situation. As a fellow millennial, I would have been very scared and followed the same steps as you. I am so sorry they ruined your peace during your trip,” a top comment read.
“Unfortunately, this is very common,they take a wild guess, they know most ppl have a package coming from China. They are usually trying to get more information from you so they can get access to your accounts. I work for a very large company and deal with this on a daily basis,” a person shared.
“The other red flag is NO federal agency is going to read you your rights over the phone,” another wrote.
@charlieloubaby PART 1 – If you own a small business, PLEASE WATCH THIS. ⛔️‼️⚠️ #smallbusiness #smallbusinessowner #warning #scamwarning ♬ original sound – Charlie Lou Baby
The Daily Dot reached out to Jessica via email and Instagram direct message.
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