Eight transactions led Marion County detectives from a crypto ATM back to a prison cell

Investigators say an inmate serving time in a Georgia prison pretended to be a Florida sheriff’s office. He allegedly pressured an elderly Marion County resident to feed $5,600 into a crypto ATM using a phone smuggled into the prison.

Patrick Marquelle Turner, 31, was extradited to Florida on August 24 to face charges of fraud.

The call that showed a sheriff’s name

The call showed up on the victim’s phone as coming from the “Marion County Sheriff’s Office.”

The voice on the other end said the man had missed jury duty and would be arrested unless he paid a fine.

Caller ID is easy to spoof. The FTC warned repeatedly that a scammer can make a real agency name or number appear on a screen even when the call comes from elsewhere.

The man drove to a crypto ATM and deposited $5,600, deputies said.

Turner ran the scheme on a contraband cellphone while he was in custody at Wheeler Correctional Facility, investigators say.

He is charged with grand theft, money laundering, defrauding someone over 65, impersonating an officer, and using a communication device to commit a felony.

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