The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office has arrested a man involved in an arrest warrant scam — a common scheme in which scammers pose as members of law enforcement agencies.
On August 18, FCSO received a report from a victim who believed he was being scammed. According to the victim, he received a call from an unknown male who claimed to be from FCSO and told him that he had a warrant for his arrest and that he needed to pay $5,000 to avoid going to jail.
After receiving the report, detectives assisted the victim with further communication with the scammer. During these communications, the scammer initially instructed the victim to a cryptocurrency kiosk and pay using Bitcoin, which the victim refused. The scammer then instructed the victim to put an envelope of cash inside a mailbox on Wellhaven Lane in Palm Coast.
While communicating with the scammer, detectives placed an empty envelope in the mailbox. Moments later a male, later identified as Tory Harvey, 24, of Palm Coast, approached the mailbox, retrieved the envelope, and ran out of sight.
Shortly after, the scammer, whom detectives believed to be someone other than Harvey, began yelling at the victim over the phone upon learning that the envelope was empty. The victim told the scammer that he was scared and thought he was going to be robbed but would now put the money in the mailbox.
After their conversation, Harvey was seen walking back toward the mailbox and retrieving the envelope, at which point detectives took him into custody.
During the investigation, detectives determined that Harvey was involved in the scam and communicated with a co-conspirator during the process but was not the organizer of the scam and was not the man directing the victim over the phone. A review of call logs from Harvey’s cellphone confirmed that he did not communicate with the victim.
Detectives arrested Harvey for organized scheme to defraud and unlawful use of a two-way communications device. He was transported to the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility, where he was later released on a $5,000 bond.
“It’s not often we can catch scammers in the act, as we normally receive reports from victims after they have already been scammed and lost their money,” said Sheriff Rick Staly. “However, the victim recognized this was a scam and quickly notified us, which gave our detectives the opportunity to be on the offensive and catch the person that was trying to scam our residents of their hard-earned money and would instead go to the Green Roof Inn.”
Sheriff Staly reminds residents that no law enforcement agency, including FCSO, will ever call asking for money or other personal information to clear a warrant or avoid an arrest.
“I encourage our residents to stay alert for scams like this and report potential scams to the Sheriff’s Office,” he said. “There are multiple telltale warning signs with scams like this. First, if someone actually has an arrest warrant, we don’t call them and ask for cash, Bitcoin, or gift cards to make it go away; we just show up at their door and take them to jail. So, if you receive a call asking for payment to avoid jail, it is certainly fake. Second, any time that somebody asks for Bitcoin or any other kind of cryptocurrency, that should set off red flags. When you see these signs, you should hang up and report the scam. I commend our detectives for quickly making an arrest before the scam could be completed.”
The investigation is ongoing, and detectives are working on identifying additional suspects.
Scams can be reported to the Sheriff’s Office by calling the non-emergency line at 386-313-4911.
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