The FBI recorded $333.5M in Bitcoin ATM fraud in 2025. Florida detectives traced eight transactions from an inmate's contraband phone back to a $5,600 scam on an elderly resident.
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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.
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. Detectives tracked the $5,600 as it hopped from account to account and connected eight separate transactions back to an inmate.
Patrick Marquelle Turner, 31, was extradited to Florida on August 24 to face charges of fraud. He 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. The Florida charges are accusations, and no conviction has been entered.
Marion County officials obtained an arrest warrant for him while he was still in the custody of the Georgia Department of Corrections, then transported him to the Marion County Jail.
Florida investigators suspect inmates inside Georgia prisons are running a network of impersonation scams, using accomplices outside the walls to collect and launder the cash.
The Volusia Sheriff's Office has charged multiple people it says funneled scam proceeds through cryptocurrency. D'Zyre Youngblood, 28, of Atlanta, was linked to a scheme that drained more than $79,000 from a Florida woman after a caller claimed to be a "Captain Eric Dietrich" and threatened arrest. The detectives traced the money to a Coinbase account tied to Youngblood. She told investigators that people in contact with inmates asked to route money via her account.
Others have been charged as well. Christina Rimes of Morven, Georgia, is accused of taking $17,000 from a Daytona Beach resident. Lakesha Heard was extradited to Volusia County in August 2025. Her alleged victim was told she had missed jury duty and put $9,300 into a Bitcoin ATM.
Government offices don't take fines for jury duty over the phone. The Marion County Clerk of Court and Comptroller told residents on August 10 that its staff will not call and demand payment. Real law enforcement will not text a warrant or threaten arrest over a hang-up, and only a scammer insists on payment through cryptocurrency, gift cards, or a wire transfer, the FTC says.
In 2025, the FBI recorded a record $333.5 million in Bitcoin ATM fraud, affecting 10,000 victims, with older adults being the most affected. Authorities in Louisiana recovered $200,000 from scammers who targeted elderly residents. That recovery followed a state law requiring warning signs on the machines, limiting deposits to $3,000 per day, and imposing a 72-hour hold to give victims time to detect fraud and recover their money.
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