CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. — Pennsylvania State Police are warning residents of Franklin County, in south-central Pennsylvania, about a phone scam in which callers impersonate local law enforcement officers and demand payment in Bitcoin or other cryptocurrency to avoid arrest. State police at the Chambersburg station issued the warning in a news release on Thursday, November 5, 2026.
Source: LocalNews1.org
According to state police, the callers falsely identify themselves as a lieutenant with the Franklin County Sheriff's Office. They tell the person who answers that there is an active arrest warrant against them because they failed to appear for jury duty — and then instruct them to make a payment using Bitcoin or another cryptocurrency to avoid being arrested.
The warning is not about a single call. State police said reports involving Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency scams have increased over the past several weeks, which is why the Chambersburg station put the alert out publicly.
Hang up — and do not call the number back
Police advice is direct: anyone who receives such a call should hang up immediately and not call the number back. Anyone who wants to check a caller's claim should contact the local law enforcement agency directly, using a verified telephone number from the agency's official website or another trusted source — never a number the caller provides.
State police stated the rule that exposes the scam every time: law enforcement agencies and government officials will never demand payment by telephone or text message to resolve an arrest warrant or avoid arrest. Officers also will not instruct anyone to make payments using Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies, prepaid gift cards or third-party payment applications.
Source: LocalNews1.org
Franklin County has been targeted before
This is at least the third official warning aimed at the same county this year. On July 30, 2026, Franklin County President Judge Shawn Meyers warned residents about text messages spoofing the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas. Those messages falsely claimed the recipient faced arrest for 'Failure to Comply with Sex Offender Registration Requirements,' said a warrant had been issued, and demanded bail of $12,000, payable through so-called e-bonds digital bonding or in bitcoin.
Source: Franklin County, Pa.
And on March 27, 2026, the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts issued a statewide advisory about the same family of scams: callers using phone numbers spoofed to look like a court's real number, claiming the victim missed jury service, owed unpaid fines and fees, and faced an arrest warrant — sometimes adding a fictitious 'gag order' to stop the victim from checking with anyone. The courts' statement was blunt: 'The Pennsylvania Courts will never place calls soliciting payments by credit card, gift card, or any other means of electronic funds transfer for any reason.'
Source: Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts
A demand for payment by phone or text; payment requested in Bitcoin or other cryptocurrency, prepaid gift cards, or payment apps; a threat of arrest for missing jury duty; and pressure to pay immediately or keep the call secret. Any one of these means the call is a scam, whatever the caller ID says.
Why the jury-duty script works
The script is built on fear of arrest and on most people's unfamiliarity with how courts actually work. Federal courts warn that real courts contact jurors by mail and do not demand payment, Social Security numbers or credit and bank details by phone — and scammers deliberately use real-sounding names, badge numbers and spoofed numbers that can make a phone display a court's genuine number. Chambersburg, the Franklin County seat, sits on the Interstate 81 corridor, one of the busiest trucking routes in the eastern United States, and the warning matters for anyone in the area — including the many immigrant families and long-haul drivers for whom an arrest threat carries extra fear.
What happens next: state police have not announced any arrests in connection with the calls, and the November 5 release did not name any victims or losses. The standing advice from Pennsylvania's courts is to report scam calls and texts to local police and to the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Bureau of Consumer Protection at (800) 441-2555 or scams@attorneygeneral.gov. Until the calls stop, troopers say the safest response to any 'pay or be arrested' demand is the simplest one — hang up.