Not saying I wouldn't be taken in by this or other scams in the heat of the moment, but from my armchair position, that redlined my suspicion.
EDIT: heart -> heat
It was quite traumatizing… I am very thankful the money (while significant) wasn’t make or break for us.
I am sure for lots of people it can mean missing some payment or something. My 8yo was worried we wouldn’t be able to pay the mortgage. (Thankfully not a concern)
Even if you do bail out, you still have to be processed, get your fingerprints done, mugshots, whatever.
This may change if you're someone notable, but for us run of the mill people, the police won't call to say "pay bail or well arrest you". You get arrested and then pay bail, in that order.
If you're interested in what's being done about it and the history of how it got this way, the STIR/SHAKEN wiki article has good details: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STIR/SHAKEN
Rough scam script:
- <background audio of police station> - hello, is this XYZ? - this is Officer Z, do you agree to abide by Judge ABC’s orders? - we have been trying to reach you by mail about this case. It has to do with a minor. - the judge has issued a gag order, do not talk with anyone about this - look up the number from the phone, see I am really calling from the courthouse
== keep you on the phone, my wife actually didn’t pick up when I called in the midst of the scam and followed with a text ==
- someone committed a crime using your name, we don’t think it was you but because you didn’t respond to mail, there is a warrant for your arrest - you need to post bail - go withdraw money from the bank and bring it to the courthouse - where are you? The courthouse is closing - it’s getting late, use a 3rd party processor setup during Covid - go to grocery store, use a CoinStar machine - send money to phone number (using XLM currency)