A Cary woman says she was strong-armed over the phone by scammers posing as deputies and ordered to dump thousands of dollars into a cryptocurrency ATM at a gas station in nearby Apex, only to realize afterward that she had been cleaned out. The caller leaned on private details to make the whole thing sound official, and now the victim is speaking out to warn neighbors across Wake County about what officials say is a resurging jury-duty scheme.
Mia Bashir told WTVD's Diane Wilson that the caller rattled off her full name, her maiden name and even her Social Security number, then followed up with texted documents that appeared to come from the U.S. Department of Justice. She says he kept her on the phone for hours, coaching her through withdrawing cash and driving to a gas station in Apex to feed the money into what he called "the federal machine." "I could not sleep, and I was in tears for a good solid week," Bashir told WTVD.
Officials issue fresh warnings
Attorney General Jeff Jackson and Wake County Sheriff Willie Rowe have been publicly urging residents to hang onto their wallets and not pay up, telling people to verify any jury-service claims on their own before doing anything. In a press release via the North Carolina Department of Justice, Jackson said, "Scammers want you to panic and send money before you have time to think," while Rowe warned that "these criminals are sophisticated and often spoof official phone numbers to appear legitimate." Officials stressed that law enforcement will not call to demand payment or threaten arrest over missed jury duty.
Why crypto ATMs are useful to scammers
The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center's 2025 annual report shows 13,460 complaints tied to cryptocurrency ATMs or kiosks last year, with about $389 million in reported losses, a sharp jump from 2024. Once cash is converted to cryptocurrency and sent to a scammer's wallet, recovering those funds is difficult, which helps make the machines a favorite tool for fraudsters, according to the IC3 annual report.
Lawmakers are moving on protections
State lawmakers have advanced legislation that would regulate virtual-currency kiosks, including daily transaction limits, fraud warnings and oversight by the state Commissioner of Banks, according to The News & Observer. The substitute measure tied to House Bill 920 would also ban certain QR-code logins and require holds on first transactions for new customers to create a window for fraud review.
How to protect yourself and where to report
The North Carolina Judicial Branch advises that if you get a call claiming you missed jury duty, you should hang up and verify the story directly with your county clerk or sheriff's office using a phone number from an official website. Do not hand over bank details, your Social Security number or other personal information over the phone, and do not deposit cash into a crypto ATM to avoid arrest. Victims can file a complaint with the NC Department of Justice at 1-877-5-NO-SCAM or report the incident to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center at IC3.
