Scammers targeting parents, grandparents, elderly: Richland SC Sheriff Lott

Ruthless scammers in Georgia prisons are using contraband cell phones to target Richland County parents, grandparents and elderly in schemes to steal their money, Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said Thursday.

In the last year, more than 100 Richland County residents have been targeted by predatory Georgia inmates, who have fleeced local folks of about $100,000, Lott told a press conference.

“There have been 20 victims since October,” said Lott, who explained that the usual line used by the scammers is to tell the victim that their loved one is incarcerated and is in urgent need of money for reasons such as bond, ankle monitors or pretrial release.

Richland County residents have lost amounts ranging from $500 to $25,000, Lott said. “Family members think they are helping out their loved one.”

“Scams happen every single day,” Lott said, mentioning that just recently a friend told him his mother had been contacted and urged to pay a traffic ticket. When the mother didn’t believe her son when he told her it was a scam, he contacted Lott who then called the mother and told her she was being victimized.

“It took me to talk to her,” Lott said. “We want family members to be involved, we want family members to talk to particularly our senior citizens and let them know what’s going on.”

The sheriff’s department has issued warrants for nine current and former inmates in four Georgia prisons. Since October, the sheriff’s department has had an investigator working the cases full time , Lott said.

Among the charges the inmates face are blackmail, computer crimes and obtaining stolen goods.

“We’re charging them with everything we can,” Lott said.

It is difficult to charge prison inmates in another state with a South Carolina crime, and only a few of the inmates have so far been formally charged with crimes, Lott said.

No money has yet been recovered, Lott said.

The scammers get their information about whom to call from public arrest records, from the sheriff’s department internet site and what to say to the victim often from social media, Lott said.

At the press conference, Lott introduced Arthur Monk (no relation to the reporter), a 68-year-old retired Richland County resident who was taken for $11,939 by a scammer playing on his emotions by purporting to describe how his son was in a dire situation.

Monk said he is speaking out publicly because he has made it his “mission” to go public because he knows how difficult it is to talk about an encounter with a scammer.

“There are so many out there who are ashamed to come forward,” Monk said.

In his case, Monk said his son had been arrested for a second time, and he was called by scammer purporting to be from a bond company in Charlotte.

Although he had a spam blocker on his phone, this call got through, so Monk said he thought the call was genuine.

Unknown to Monk, the scammer was also contacting other family members to get money from them, too.

“They are the most polite people — it’s ’sir’ and it’s ’ma’am’ — and they are very convincing,” Monk said.

Monk said he found himself revealing confidential information, and the scammer used that to drag him into the scheme even deeper.

“This played on the heartstrings,” Monk said. “All you do, is worry about your child.”

Eventually, he lost $11,939 — money that he had set aside to pay income taxes.

Richland County investigators were able to use Monk’s information concerning the cell phones to track the numbers to prisons in Georgia, even though the numbers had North Carolina area codes, Monk said.

The investigation also found that one inmate was training and coaching other inmates on how to become convincing con men, Lott said.

Lott issued these reminders:

• Law enforcement will never call you to request any fine, fee or bond.
• Always verify information with a trusted official source or detention center.
• Be cautious of urgent demands for payment and threats of increased penalties.
• Never send money or give personal information to unknown callers.

“Law enforcement is never going to call you and ask for money,” Lott said.

The more than 100 Richland County victims aren’t alone, Lott said. “I’m afraid that’s only the tip of the iceberg.”

This story was originally published May 7, 2026 at 4:43 PM with the headline "Scammers targeting parents, grandparents, elderly: Richland SC Sheriff Lott."