CHESAPEAKE, Va. — Sarah Davis thought she was following the law. Instead, she lost $15,000 to a scammer posing as a bail bondsman — and she's now speaking out to warn others.
Davis received a phone call from someone claiming to be with the Chesapeake Sheriff's Office back in 2023. The caller ID showed "City of Chesapeake." The caller told her she had two bench warrants for failing to appear as an expert witness in a federal case.
"I received a telephone call. It said city of Chesapeake," Davis said.
What made the call convincing was the level of detail the caller had about her personal life.
"Social Security number, previous addresses, places I'd worked — so that kind of stopped me in my tracks like this is a lot of detailed information that is correct," Davis said.
Davis says she initially laughed off the claims about being a witness expert, but the caller quickly turned threatening.
"He said if you want to be combative and not do this a civil route, do you want to go to the more legal way? We'll have an officer, blue lights on, arresting you in front of your neighbors right now," Davis said.
"He told me I was under a federal gag order. I had to check in every hour on the hour by text," Davis said.
Davis took out a line of credit from her bank, got the cash and met a man in person who claimed to be a bail bondsman. She said she handed him $15,000.
"I had one split second and thought I needed to leave but I didn't. I rolled down the window and I gave him the money," Davis said.
Police investigated and said they received 2 calls about similar incidents the same day. Investigators were unable to locate security video of the exchange and turned information over to the FBI. The Department of Justice said it could not comment on the active case.
Chesapeake Sheriff Wallace Chadwick said urgency and threats of punishment are key warning signs of a scam.
"If they ask you for payment now or by 5 o'clock today or this is going to happen — if they have that urgency and there's a severe punishment at the end — that should be a red flag right out of the gate," Chadwick said.
Scammers are also using increasingly sophisticated technology to carry out these schemes.
"They're using voice manipulation — my voice could be manipulated, put into a phone call, and they can use that to extract money and funds from people as well," Chadwick said.
The fact that Davis met the suspect in person made the case especially alarming to investigators and others.
"That's scary and it goes to show you the lengths that some of these scammers will go to get what they want," Chadwick said.
The Federal Trade Commission reports that imposter scams were the number 1 scam for the 9th year in a row. In 2025, the FTC received more than 1 million reports about imposter scams, with reported losses increasing by nearly 20% to $3.5 billion.
Davis is now responsible for repaying the money she borrowed and hopes her story prevents others from falling victim.
"I think of all the things I could've done," Davis said.
