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Imagine receiving an urgent phone call from law enforcement: You've missed jury duty and a warrant has been issued for your arrest. The only way out is to transfer bail money immediately. You're ordered to stay on the line and do exactly as you're told, or you'll be taken to jail.

This is a digital arrest scam, a form of extortion where criminal imposters use the threat of immediate arrest to defraud people of their money. Unlike phishing or most other cybercrimes, these schemes rely on intense, real-time interactions — usually over the phone or webcam — to pressure and manipulate their victims.

Kimberly Fudge, a 38-year-old finance department manager from Florida, knows this all too well. Terrified of being arrested, she recently lost $25,000 to scammers who kept her on the phone for nearly 10 hours, forcing her to drive around the Tampa area feeding cash into cryptocurrency ATMs, she told The Wall Street Journal.

As implausible as these ploys may sound, they're surprisingly effective. The July call Fudge endured with a man claiming to be a sheriff's deputy was carefully orchestrated to intimidate and isolate.

The deputy and four others who came on the line that day had enough details about her to seem legit, the Journal reported. They sent her documents to sign, and she could hear what sounded like police radio traffic in the background. They told her not to tell anyone what was going on, and when she questioned anything, she was either reassured she would get her money back or told that deputies were just blocks away, ready to take her in.

“I'm a rule-follower,” Fudge, who is married and has a 7-year-old daughter, told the Journal. “I couldn't go to jail for 30 days.”

So what?

In an age where criminals can hijack caller ID and learn intimate details about your life, it is increasingly difficult to know who to trust. With digital arrest schemes in particular, panic and pressure are weaponized to dupe people — even those who assume they'll know better.

Here's what to understand about these insidious crimes:

•   It's the fear that makes a digital arrest scam so effective. Researchers say the scams are designed to make you so afraid that you don't have time to think clearly. They may keep victims on the phone or a video call for hours, ensuring they can't get outside input and wearing them down.

•   The scams often begin with an urgent call from someone claiming to be a U.S. Marshal, local police officer, court clerk, or the IRS. Scammers may send forged documents, doctor fake police-station backdrops, or use the names of real officials to gain your trust.

•   Scammers may accuse victims of missing jury duty or other court dates, owing taxes, improperly using personal information, and even inadvertent involvement in money laundering or drug trafficking.

•   The common thread is that money must be paid to avoid arrest: Whether the scammers call it bail, a fine, or some other form of settlement, they'll often order victims to pay using either a payment app, cryptocurrency, gift cards, or a wire transfer service like Western Union.

Data from the Federal Trade Commission doesn't break out digital arrest scams specifically, but imposter scams are now the most commonly reported type of fraud. Americans lost $3.5 billion to them last year — nearly triple the amount lost in 2020 — with $918 million stolen by criminals posing specifically as government officials, according to the FTC.

Digital arrest scams are particularly prevalent in India, where victims — many of whom are elderly — have lost approximately $443 million over the past six years, according to the country's National Human Rights Commission.

But cases like Fudge's have been cropping up in the U.S., including in parts of Florida, Arkansas, Virginia, West Virginia, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado. Earlier this year, two Georgia inmates were convicted of running a nationwide jury-duty scam from prison, apparently on stolen cellphones. And in June, the FTC warned that scammers have even taken to sending fake arrest warrants over text or email.

How to protect yourself

U.S. law enforcement will never call to arrest you, nor will they text or email an arrest warrant, according to the FTC. No government agency will ever demand payment over the phone, either.

If you're suspicious, hang up and independently verify the caller by contacting the relevant agency directly — don't re-dial the number that just called you. Any urgency is a red flag.

Related Reading

AI Is Blurring What's Real. How Do You Know What to Trust? (SoFi)

Fake Cops, Fake Judges: The Hollywood-Style Scam Poised to Go Global (The Wall Street Journal)

Biggest Fraud and Scams to Watch for in 2026 (AARP)

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