A 43-year-old Athens, Georgia woman has been extradited to Volusia County after detectives say she helped run a phone scam that convinced a DeLand woman to hand over roughly $15,000 to callers posing as local sheriff's deputies. Vera Faust was arrested and charged with fraud, accused of working with three other outside accomplices in a scheme that investigators believe was orchestrated by inmates inside a Georgia state prison.
Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood said in an October 6 video statement that Faust is related to an inmate serving a life sentence for murder in a Georgia state prison, and that she acted alongside three outside co-conspirators to pull off the DeLand scam, according to the Volusia County Sheriff's Office. The scammers impersonated members of the sheriff's office and told the DeLand victim she needed to send money to avoid arrest, according to the sheriff. The victim sent $15,000 before the sheriff's office financial crimes unit stepped in. Chitwood said most of the money was recovered, though the specific amount reclaimed was not disclosed, as FOX 35 Orlando reported.
Detectives believe the inmates behind the scheme used smuggled phones and other technology to direct associates outside prison walls, who collected and moved the stolen funds. The Daily Hodl described a $4,209 Bitcoin ATM deposit as part of a separate Florida victim’s $15,825 fake jury-duty scam, not the DeLand case; the funds were traced through multiple digital wallets to a Cash App account owned by co-defendant Annie Lee Ashley. Ashley was separately arrested in September in connection with a similar fake jury duty scam in Florida.
A Pattern Traced Back to Georgia Prisons
This is not an isolated case for Volusia County investigators. Sergeant Julian Elmazi told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the department has arrested roughly two dozen outside accomplices over the past year connected to phone scams originating from inmates at Georgia facilities, including Wheeler Correctional Institution and Calhoun State Prison. Atlanta resident D'Zyre Youngblood was arrested in March in connection with a $79,000 scam.
Chitwood said the Georgia prison scams will continue to be investigated and that suspects will keep being brought back to Florida to face charges. The sheriff reiterated that legitimate law enforcement does not call to demand money over the phone, and he urged anyone receiving such a call to simply hang up.
Georgia Officials Point to Nationwide Contraband Problem
Contraband cell phones and drone drops are among the security concerns facing correctional facilities. Corrections technology provider VIA Science reported in February that its AI-driven platform, deployed in partnership with Georgia's prison system, had identified and terminated its 10,000th contraband cell phone operating inside state facilities.
The DeLand case illustrates how scammers can use fake legal threats to demand money.
Faust and at least one of the three other suspects were arrested and brought to Florida in connection with the scheme. Faust faces fraud charges in connection with the alleged theft. A similar court-appearance scam has also been reported in Iowa.
