They call and leave a message. When a call back to the number is made, the response will be “this is the Federal Prisons”. Then the actual caller will take over. Several families who have relations in the federal prisons are falling prey to scammers who pose as Reentry Officers to inmates in the prisons.

“It is going around right now. You are the second family member in the past month of one of my clients. They are targeting family members of prisoners,” a federal criminal defense lawyer told a second victim that fell prey to the scammers.

According to Help for Felons, “the process of leaving prison can be very difficult, especially for ex-offenders and felons that have had to serve lengthy sentences. Reentry programs for ex-offenders can be very helpful for those that need a helping hand once outside prison.”

The targets are always inmates with long term. The caller will mention the name, the number and the location of the facility.

After getting the attention of the victims, the scammers will inform them that the federal prisons is facilitating a parole for the inmates but while on parole the inmate would wear ankle monitor for 90days before it can be removed.

The ankle monitor is expected to work with Wi-Fi equipment in the location the inmate will be serving the parole. This is where the victim is now informed that a contractor would be installing the equipment for a fee. The payment can only be made through payment platform such as PayPal, Venmo, Zelle or Cash App.

Unsuspecting victims would have paid before realizing the scam as the number would no longer be picked and neither can the bank refund money paid through those payment platforms based on the disclaimer that always insist on confirmation of the payee before paying.

Parole is the release of a prisoner temporarily (for a special purpose) or permanently before the completion of a sentence, on the promise of good behavior.

An ankle monitor is a device that logs information about where the wearer is located and transmits that information to a monitoring center. It is usually shaped like a close fitting bracelet and is wrapped around the leg above the ankle.

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