Man impersonating deputies scammed victims out of tens of thousands of dollars, BSO says
A Pennsylvania man who pretended to be a Broward Sheriff’s Office deputy scammed victims of tens of thousands of dollars by threatening to arrest them if they didn’t pay bonds for arrest warrants that didn’t exist, according to detectives.
Raquan Hardy is behind bars in his home state awaiting trial in connection to similar cases, the sheriff’s office said Thursday in a news release. In Broward, the 25-year-old faces a total of 21 counts including organized scheme to defraud, grand theft, impersonating a law enforcement officer, extortion and criminal use of personal identification information, his arrest warrant shows.
According to investigators, at least four victims in Broward fell prey to the scam, handing over more than $50,000 to Hardy between Sept. 7 and Sept. 10. In Pennsylvania, Hardy and an accomplice are accused of tricking people into paying over $40,000, the Allegheny County Sheriff’s Office said last month.
The weeks-long investigation began in early September after a phone scam surfaced in Broward where an individual contacted the victims using a phone number that appeared to be from the sheriff’s office. This type of scam, called spoofing, often involves just changing one digit from an agency’s phone number to make the call appear legitimate, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Investigators say the scammer told his targets that there were active warrants for their arrest and that they needed to pay a bond in cash through a bail bond company to avoid getting locked up. The arrest warrants, detectives say, didn’t exist.
Detectives identified Hardy as a suspect,but before deputies could arrest him they say he fled. Broward detectives eventually tracked Hardy to Dallas, Texas, where local authorities arrested him on Sept. 22. He was later extradited to Pennsylvania.
“Please be aware that BSO will never call you to ask for money or personal information, demand bond money or any form of payment,” the sheriff’s office wrote. “If you receive this type of call, do not provide any personal information or money. Instead, immediately hang up and contact law enforcement.”
This story was originally published November 3, 2022 at 9:44 PM.
