A Lakewood resident nearly handed over $15,000 in cash (pictured) in an elaborate scam involving a fake arrest warrant, a phony Ocean County Sheriff’s Office caller and a fabricated jury duty case.

The victim tells TLS he received a call from someone claiming to be from the Ocean County Sheriff’s Office. The caller told him that he had missed jury duty and was now facing charges.

The scammer then claimed he would transfer the resident to a captain to verify the claims and charges. He also made the victim read off some pages he sent him – one of them is attached here:

The scammer told the resident that he could not hang up because there was an active arrest warrant for him. He was also instructed not to tell anyone about the situation, with the scammer claiming it was a private jury matter.

At one point, the scammer instructed the resident to get into his car and read the odometer. When the resident said he wanted to call his lawyer, the scammer allegedly told him, “We have to book you first.”

The scammer then offered him another option: posting $15,000 bond.

The resident was instructed to go to Chase Bank and withdraw the money in cash. He was told not to tell anyone on social media about the situation and, according to the scammer, he could not even tell the banker the real reason for the withdrawal because it was a private matter.

The scammer also told the resident to claim the money was for an attorney and insisted that he remain on the phone because they believed he might “run.”

After withdrawing the $15,000, the scammer told the resident that he would provide an address where the cash should be dropped off.

However, the resident became suspicious when he was told to go to an address not in the direction of Toms River – where the courts are located. He looked up the address on Google and discovered that it was a deli.

When the resident questioned the scammer and asked if that was really the correct address, the scammer allegedly responded, “Yes, that’s the right address.”

The victim, feeling something was off, then uploaded the supposed arrest warrant online to double-check it and quickly realized that it did not look legitimate.

He flagged down a police officer and got the scammer on the phone. As soon as the scammer realized that law enforcement was involved, he hung up.

B”H the victim was saved minutes before handing over the cash.

The incident serves as a serious reminder that scammers are becoming increasingly sophisticated, using official-sounding titles, fake legal documents and threats of arrest to pressure victims into immediately handing over large sums of money.