Beware of scam claiming to be Harris County Sheriff’s Office!!

Hey yall.

I just got a phone call that really freaked me out so I want to spread awareness here. I received a call from the Harris County Sheriff’s Office (713-221-6000) this afternoon from a guy who called himself an officer asking to confirm my identity and said my name, which I confirmed. He then told me that I was supposed to show up in court this morning as a witness to a case but since I was a no-show, then they were going to talk to me about the next steps that the judge has laid out for me. I instantly went into overdrive and started asking all kinds of questions – what case? Witness to what? Where was my notification of this? The officer told me that a subpoena was delivered to insert my mom’s address here on March 18th at 1 PM and that I signed for it. I told him there was no way that is true because I work every day and would never be there at 1 PM. He told me he had to connect me to his captain, who would be able to answer all my questions. He gave me a “failure to appear citation code” with a $3000 fee on it and a “contest of court citation code” with a $4000 fee attached to it. Red flag #1.

I then got a call from the captain, who called himself Lieutenant Michael Harvey, who talked to me for soooooo long about my rights and what was going to happen next. It was a bunch of legal jargon. He asked for those citation codes and the fees attached to them. I asked him if this was a scam (lol smooth) to which he said “do me a favor and google our phone number. Let me know what you find out.” Obviously it comes up with the Sheriff’s Office so I told him that that’s not proof because numbers can be spoofed to be anything, but he insisted that “government numbers can’t be spoofed”. Red flag #2.

Anyway, he told me that Judge Andrew Harvey was the judge this morning for the case. Couldn’t give me any details on the case, just that I was summoned as an “expert witness” in a criminal case. Again, I told him there was no way and that I never signed any notice of receiving court documents regarding this. He then told me that I basically needed to come in IMMEDIATELY to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office to undergo signature verification process or else I will be arrested. I told him I cannot do that because I work in a hospital in a suburb and that I am caring for sick people. I even asked this fool if I could do it at the Pasadena Sheriff’s office since that is near me, but he came up with some long-winded excuse about why that couldn’t be done. Long story short, he basically told me that if I can’t come in right now, then he has to post a bond for me, THEN I could be scheduled for signature verification at a later date. I asked how much that would be, and he said $7000. I laughed and told him that this had to be a scam, but then he became pretty threatening and was saying I was mocking the integrity of the justice system. I asked for his badge number and he said “my shield ID is 14A6”. I again asked for his badge number and he would not give it. I started asking for more proof but he cut me off and asked me if I was going to go the civil route or criminal route, which I took as very threatening. I ended up hanging up on him right then and there.

He had told me earlier in the conversation that if I hang up on him, that it can be taken as a sign of my being unwilling to cooperate and that he would have no choice but to arrest me, which of course made me nervous to hang up. After I hung up, I got a call from a blocked number that I just ignored.

My sister ended up calling the sheriff’s office and gave them the details of what happened, which they confirmed was completely a scam. They even told me that Michael Harvey was a sheriff but retired years ago. I’m happy that it was nothing in the end, but I was pretty shaken. Plus, they knew my name and my mom’s address, which I guess is public information but still terrifying. Hoping someone reads this and can identify the scam before they scare the s**t out of you like they did me. Has anyone had this experience before??