Oconee County Sheriff’s Office Issues August 2025 Scams Update

(Walhalla, SC)-------------------------------------In our continuing efforts to educate and inform our citizens, and to prevent them from becoming victims of scams, the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office is releasing today our August 2025 Scams Update.

The Oconee County Sheriff’s Office continues to be made aware of various jury scams.  In previous editions of our Scam Updates, we have made our citizens and readers aware of these types of scams. 

In a scam that was reported to the Sheriff’s Office today, some citizens have received a voicemail on their phones from someone claiming to be from our Office.  According to the recording, the person calling says that this is a recorded message from the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office and mentions the Oconee County Detention Center.

The caller goes on to identify themselves as “Deputy Brian Turner” and that they are calling from the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office Civil Services Division.  The caller goes on to say that they have been requested to make contact, after receiving proper documentation, with those who reportedly failed to appear last Friday for Federal Grand Jury Duty.

The caller went on to provide a phone number in order for contact to be made so any legal consequences can be avoided. The number provided on the voicemail contains a prefix that is not an Oconee County Sheriff’s Office number.  An e-mail address was also provided in order for contact to be made. 

A check by Deputies with the website provided, civiljuryservices.org, indicates that the website was flagged for malware.

In a separate scam, the Sheriff’s Office spoke to a victim who reported being scammed out of approximately $6,000.  The victim told the Deputy that they had received a phone call from someone claiming to be from the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office.  The victim was informed that they had missed jury duty and would be arrested unless they made the $6,000 payment. 

The victim was told to stay on the phone while the person who called her while she traveled to various Walmart locations.  At each Walmart, the called texted the victim barcodes that she had to scan in order to put a certain amount of a virtual gift card.  The victim discovered that old barcodes would be deleted when she was provided a new one. 

The Oconee County Sheriff’s Office is providing some tips to avoid being the victim of a jury scam.  Some of these tips have been mentioned in previous Scam Updates as it relates to jury scams.

·         The Oconee County Sheriff’s Office does not have an employee named Brian Turner.

·         The Oconee County Sheriff’s Office will not contact anyone regarding Federal Grand Jury Duty since we are not a Federal Law Enforcement Agency.

·         The Oconee County Sheriff’s Office will not demand payment for anyone to have a lawfully obtained arrest or bench warrant recalled or to have any charges dropped

·         If someone asks you to make a payment with any type of gift card, consider this to be a sign of a scam.  Legitimate businesses or organizations will not ask you to make a payment using gift cards.