HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — A Hillsborough County woman who works in tech nearly lost $10,000 in an elaborate phone scam after criminals impersonating Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office deputies convinced her she had warrants for her arrest.
“It was a very scary, stressful situation. And if it can happen to me, someone who is pretty educated in this specific space, it 100% can happen to anyone else," Sheri Amarillas told the Tampa Bay 28 I-Team.
Amarillas was sitting in her car on a Tuesday morning, about to walk into an appointment after dropping her kids off at school, when she received a voicemail that would lead to an hour-and-a-half ordeal with sophisticated scammers.
In the voicemail, a man introduced himself as a captain with the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.
Listen to voicemail
"I'm looking to get in contact with Sheri Ridenour, if I pronounced that correctly, this is in regards to a very important matter," the caller said. "I can be reached here at the warrants and citations division at extension 4."
Ridenour is Sheri's maiden name.
When Amarillas called the number back, she was connected to what sounded like the sheriff's office. The scammer told her there were two warrants out for her arrest for failure to appear in federal court as part of a grand jury.
"He said, ma'am, I'm calling you because there's two warrants out for your arrest," Amarillas said. "And he said, for failure to appear in federal court and that they had served me with a certified letter that I had signed, where they had given me orders to appear in court, to be part of a grand jury. And this was a federal crime."
The scammer then texted her what appeared to be an official court document with seals and signatures. The fake warrant was titled, "Warrant for the Arrest of a Witness or a Disqualified Juror in a Pending Criminal Case" and showed penalties totaling roughly $10,000.
The fine print at the bottom included a detail Amarillas didn't notice initially: "Did you know? As of January 3, 2025, you will now pay federal citation fines using Bitcoin!"
The scammers kept Amarillas on the phone for the next hour and a half, using sophisticated tactics to maintain the illusion. She heard police scanners and other background noises, she told the I-Team, that made the situation seem legitimate.
"It was very detailed. In the background, there were scanners going off, police scanners," Amarillas said. "There were a lot of other noises that made me feel like this was a real situation."
The caller told Amarillas she was under a "federal gag order" and couldn't tell anyone what was happening. When she said she didn't have $10,000, the scammer suggested getting a cash advance on a credit card.
"And he said it's okay. Listen, we talked to all different kinds of people. Typically what they do is they go to the bank, they just get a cash advance on a credit card," Amarillas said.
After obtaining the money, Amarillas was directed to what the scammer called an "automated bonds teller." She was first sent to a 7-Eleven, but the employee said they no longer had the type of machine she was describing.
At the second location, a small local grocery store, Amarillas found a machine with a large Bitcoin sign. The scammer had texted her a QR code to scan, but she stopped when she noticed a warning on the machine.
"I saw a banner at the bottom that said, if someone has sent you a QR code to scan at this machine, it's most likely a scam," Amarillas said.
It was then that Amarillas put the caller on hold and contacted the real Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.
"As I said the words, I realized this was quite an elaborate scam," Amarillas said. "And she forwarded me over to a deputy who told me that this was a scam, to block their numbers, and that the sheriff's office would never call me, you know, with a warrant, or anything like that."
Two days after Amarillas' experience, on December 4, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office posted a warning on social media about the uptick in impersonation crimes.
In the first three months of 2025 alone, the sheriff's office reported that scammers have stolen over $1 million through various scams, including jury summons and warrant scams.
"I really hope that justice somehow is served," Amarillas said. "We need awareness, we need to talk about it more as a community, and we need to make sure that we're protecting each other, because people in tech are getting so sophisticated."
The sheriff's office emphasizes it will never call about a warrant or ask for money. If you receive such a call, hang up immediately and do not make any payments. If you're unsure about a call's legitimacy, contact the agency directly to verify. If you do get scammed, call your bank and report the scam to law enforcement.
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Kylie McGivern works tirelessly to get results for the people of Tampa Bay. Her reporting has exposed flaws in Florida’s corrections system and unemployment process. Reach out to Kylie and our I-Team if you need help holding state leaders accountable.
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